ULSU EGM

canned_ulkc

I've never heard a single moan about the two ladies holding office of welfare and education so that it might be a bit far to call for a cleanout of the entire SU. There are also a number of non-sabbat staff who don't deserve to be subject to the same performance judgement as sabbats.

While there's a lot of gossip going on there have also been pretty big challenges due to changes this year.

Tomas essentially held 2 roles. Those roles have been seperated and 2 new people came in to take those on. In addition, never before has there been such money problems. (maybe never is the wrong word but certainly not in the memory of the majority of UL students)

To imagine that sabbats are gurus of handling change might be heaping too much on their shoulders. We should expet them to be able to have a professional relationship that ensures the duties of the roles are executed....

Mikel91

TheSpecialOne wrote: »

Can we propose to remove the lot of them? Christ ULSU is a laughing stock at this stage.

Why remove the lot of them when its only a few that are "Bad Eggs" or so it seems.

Personally if it were myself it would be Tara and Paddy.Tara seems to be in her role all sorts of useless.I know quite a number of people who have emailed her and have yet to get replys.Paddy,not in reference to the recent thread but from what I've heard with other students that have dealt or worked with him aint great(But I did hear from one that his role has been stripped down quite a bit leaving him with little to do though.)

Derek is doing fine,that whole c&s thing was blown far out of proportion,Kelly doing fine,some what loose at some stages but generally grand.I Agree that communication and CSO should be removed.Aoife I haven't heard much tbh but never anything bad.

As for the shop closer.Well in fairness they werent great for the SU.Maybe in the future we may see them again but for now they deserve to be closed.(I do feel sorry for all the staff that was left go).Dromroe while it did break even lost out with staff wages(and in fairness lads the SU spar is only up the road,most of us have to walk further if we wish to go to the shop) and Cappa...While totally justified was a money black hole.Im surprised the bike shop was closed however,but more so because I thought it was a private business.

*Just a little p.o.v. but I feel the delli food in the court yard spar is ,well ****e and low quality.Maybe with the closures they can invest in better quality stuff. and hopfully lower prices again.

wnolan1992

TheSpecialOne wrote: »

Can we propose to remove the lot of them? Christ ULSU is a laughing stock at this stage.

You could have, but the deadline was Friday. And you have been laughed out of the building if you had, given that the SU generally provides good service for students.

Mikel91 wrote: »

Why remove the lot of them when its only a few that are "Bad Eggs" or so it seems.

Personally if it were myself it would be Tara and Paddy.Tara seems to be in her role all sorts of useless.I know quite a number of people who have emailed her and have yet to get replys.Paddy,not in reference to the recent thread but from what I've heard with other students that have dealt or worked with him aint great(But I did hear from one that his role has been stripped down quite a bit leaving him with little to do though.)

Derek is doing fine,that whole c&s thing was blown far out of proportion,Kelly doing fine,some what loose at some stages but generally grand.I Agree that communication and CSO should be removed.Aoife I haven't heard much tbh but never anything bad.

As for the shop closer.Well in fairness they werent great for the SU.Maybe in the future we may see them again but for now they deserve to be closed.(I do feel sorry for all the staff that was left go).Dromroe while it did break even lost out with staff wages(and in fairness lads the SU spar is only up the road,most of us have to walk further if we wish to go to the shop) and Cappa...While totally justified was a money black hole.Im surprised the bike shop was closed however,but more so because I thought it was a private business.

*Just a little p.o.v. but I feel the delli food in the court yard spar is ,well ****e and low quality.Maybe with the closures they can invest in better quality stuff. and hopfully lower prices again.

Think your evaluation is pretty fair overall.

I would think the CSO's duties could be taken care of by the events manager that's already in place and a combination of the other sabbats.

I'm against getting rid of CO, mainly because Kelly has achieved a lot this year (setting up and funding ULFM, running An Focal, setting up anfocal.ie, setting up Cellar Door, and probably more I can't think of right now) and I honestly don't believe a Co-op student in the job for 6 months would be able to achieve as much. I feel that if it was a Co-op student doing the job, it would be more a case of keeping things as they are, rather than striving for long lasting improvements and changes.

But that's just my opinion, if the motion passes at the EGM (which I expect it will, as most people will be swayed by the monetary savings to be made in salary) then I'll make my peace with it.

And the courtyard deli food is sh*te! That's the main reason I want Dromroe re-opened, 'cos it was feckin' lovely!

jasonpkennedy

The motion to get rid of CO is being brought up for representational reasons, not for financial reasons. That's from my understanding of it at any rate.

wnolan1992

jasonpkennedy wrote: »

The motion to get rid of CO is being brought up for representational reasons, not for financial reasons. That's from my understanding of it at any rate.

I'm quite happy to be proven wrong about getting rid of it, but I have serious misgivings about getting rid of a position who's main job is communicating with the students... I mean, already a lot of students feel alienated from the SU (cliquey nature has been brought up a lot here, and among people I've been talking to who don't post here) and imho getting rid of CO would make this even worse.

Just my own opinion on it anyway. I'll admit I'm not completely au fait with the reasoning behind it (bar what was in the most recent An Focal), but will be looking more into it over this week.

freyners

gotta love being on co-op and missing out on most of this. keep me updated guys

Fishooks12

Jesus this has become a monumental embarrassment for ULSU.

Few issues, the whole narky personal comments are unprofessional in the extreme and not something you'd expect from people in their mid twenties

Secondly is it any surprise that the SU is up to it's eyes in debt considering the fee's paid to (****e IMO) bands like The Coronas, Blizzards and Shane McGowan who then struggle to sell over 200 hundred tickets?

The fact that our own SU president wasn't even at the student protest in Dublin kind of sums up the year for this particular group of sabbats

I will say that it's not been all bad, ULFM seems to be very strong now after a bumpy start and even an focal seems to be running a tighter ship (a lot of which is down to the sterling work of Jason Kennedy)

SarahBeep!

Fishooks12 wrote: »

I will say that it's not been all bad, ULFM seems to be very strong now after a bumpy start and even an focal seems to be running a tighter ship (a lot of which is down to the sterling work of Jason Kennedy)

I don't think anyone realises just how much work he does for the Comms officer!!

Mikel91

Fishooks12 wrote: »

?

The fact that our own SU president wasn't even at the student protest in Dublin kind of sums up the year for this particular group of sabbats

Um yes he was.

Fishooks12

Mikel91 wrote: »

Um yes he was.

To the best of my knowledge he was in America on a "leadership seminar"

highlydebased

Fishooks12 wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge he was in America on a "leadership seminar"

Correct.

Mikel91

Fishooks12 wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge he was in America on a "leadership seminar"

That "Leader Seminar" was after the Protest in Dublin and was not only attended by Derek but by other members of our SU and other Colleges/University's SU's as well.

horsemeat

Give paddy some credit. The dude is definitely the most personable one of the lot, he's the epitome of what a representative should be, he's out there making friends presenting a fun positive image of the union.

his hands are tied with the money situation, that's certainly not his fault, he says himself in his blog that he's been using his own personal money to run campaigns since october!

paddy rockett is the one man who I can hand on heart say always has the best interests of the students union and the students of ul at the forefront of his mind when it comes to his job. and i can say that from experience, whilst also I can say from personal experience some of the other reps do not always have the best interests of the students at heart. i don't think there's anyone as passionate about the SU as paddy is. he's fun, chatty, great craic to talk to people, loves to befriend new people, and one of the most helpful members of the university I have ever known. out there meeting new students every week, that's what being a rep is about. he walks into the stables and straight away a million people wanna talk to him, walks through the courtyard and everoyne want to go over for a chat. thats what being a rep is. making yourself known, making the union known, and presenting a positive friendly image. not sitting behind desks,introverted, signing forms all day, and too shy to hold a conversation with someone they don't know just got elected cause they had a fancy poster (not a dig at any particular rep, but there have been many who have ran for the thing, all chatty and friendly all week, when really it's just front, they walk past you the week after election staring at their shoes afraid to look up)

that vitriol posted last night was despicable.

wnolan1992

horsemeat wrote: »

Give paddy some credit. The dude is definitely the most personable one of the lot, he's the epitome of what a representative should be, he's out there making friends presenting a fun positive image of the union.

his hands are tied with the money situation, that's certainly not his fault, he says himself in his blog that he's been using his own personal money to run campaigns since october!

paddy rockett is the one man who I can hand on heart say always has the best interests of the students union and the students of ul at the forefront of his mind when it comes to his job. and i can say that from experience, whilst also I can say from personal experience some of the other reps do not always have the best interests of the students at heart. i don't think there's anyone as passionate about the SU as paddy is. he's fun, chatty, great craic to talk to people, loves to befriend new people, and one of the most helpful members of the university I have ever known. out there meeting new students every week, that's what being a rep is about. he walks into the stables and straight away a million people wanna talk to him, walks through the courtyard and everoyne want to go over for a chat. thats what being a rep is. making yourself known, making the union known, and presenting a positive friendly image. not sitting behind desks,introverted, signing forms all day, and too shy to hold a conversation with someone they don't know just got elected cause they had a fancy poster (not a dig at any particular rep, but there have been many who have ran for the thing, all chatty and friendly all week, when really it's just front, they walk past you the week after election staring at their shoes afraid to look up)

that vitriol posted last night was despicable.

A tad OT... this is a thread about the EGM, not Paddy....

But I do agree with a lot of what you've posted. Not all, but a lot.

Jester252

Kelly tbh has done a lot this year but I dont think a CO is needed. if they replace the position with a free coop student they student will be able to look after the running of the comm no problem they will be there for 8 months anyway and they might even be two over the summer months and they will improve the services no problem. I know the removal is up not on money but on rep so why has a new posistion not been made that will rep the student more with the university

jasonpkennedy

Thanks for that lads. To be honest, having worked with the previous four COs, I'm convinced that none of the CO reforms are up to scratch. Anything I've heard so far would lead to a huge decline in An Focal's standard.
Having unpaid students/coop students/a Communications Manager would lead to a decline in the editorial independence that the current CO has. The current CO has the students to answer to. A staff member doing An Focal and UL FM would have to answer to the General Manager and President. Not something I would support at all.

canned_ulkc

Doesn't the replacement of any officer by a non-paid co-op student smack a little bit of the same kind of abuse of the internship programme for those on Jobseekers Allowance by some employers.

I don't know if that statement might be a bit of an exageration but surely any co-op interested in spending their time doing something that the SU should be capable of providing some renumeration?

One things for sure, the SU needs to provide communications as a service. With that being the case, they should be able to provide this service as part of current/future roles or if it becomes the responsibility of someone else then surely there should be some pay involved?

ULMarc

I would be disgusted if I was going for co-op placement, called for interview by the SU, chosen and then told I wouldn't be paid and that I'd have to like it or lump it.

wnolan1992

ULMarc wrote: »

I would be disgusted if I was going for co-op placement, called for interview by the SU, chosen and then told I wouldn't be paid and that I'd have to like it or lump it.

Another reason why I'm against replacing the CO in this way...

Let's face it, what quality of candidate are you going to get for the position if it's unpaid? If it's unpaid, how much effort are the candidates going to put in if they get the position?

Imho, communication between the SU and students is a vital service, and is becoming even more important now with all these money troubles. Taking away the CO position would be a completely regressive negative decision imo.

Jester252

wnolan1992 wrote: »

ULMarc wrote: »

I would be disgusted if I was going for co-op placement, called for interview by the SU, chosen and then told I wouldn't be paid and that I'd have to like it or lump it.

Another reason why I'm against replacing the CO in this way...

Let's face it, what quality of candidate are you going to get for the position if it's unpaid? If it's unpaid, how much effort are the candidates going to put in if they get the position?

Imho, communication between the SU and students is a vital service, and is becoming even more important now with all these money troubles. Taking away the CO position would be a completely regressive negative decision imo.

That is were your wrong
just because it is unpaided doesn't mean that it is a bad student. Coop dosen't work like that trust me I know. The student will has to keep up the standerd or be fired and thus fail coop. What I ment was not get rid of the Co replace it so that the student is more rep maybe a back up for the edu and welfare who will still have time to look into the comm sercives

wnolan1992

Jester252 wrote: »

That is were your wrong
just because it is unpaided doesn't mean that it is a bad student. Coop dosen't work like that trust me I know. The student will has to keep up the standerd or be fired and thus fail coop. What I ment was not get rid of the Co replace it so that the student is more rep maybe a back up for the edu and welfare who will still have time to look into the comm sercives

No, being unpaid doesn't mean the student won't put in a high standard of work, but (just in my view) it's more likely that a co-op student wouldn't put as much effort in as they would if they were accountable to the student body at large.

But, to be fair I guess, under the current system you're not guaranteed to have a high standard either... I guess I've just been spoiled in my two years here with the CO's. :pac:

wnolan1992

Jesus Christ.... things are definitely gonna kick off at the EGM...

and for those of you that read the "The SU is F**ked" thread...

CO wrote:

This brings me on to something on Boards.ie that I was alerted to over the weekend. Though I didn’t get to see the original post, I gleaned much of its content from reading the comments that followed. I have a vague idea who the original poster was and, while there were a few inaccuracies and the tone was not… shall we say, desirable, for the Union as a whole, I can confirm that the bulk of what was in it, was true. As this is the blog of the CO, and not of me personally, I can’t really go into detail as to the allegations made in the thread… I can only hope the majority of you saw it and know what I’m on about. If you’re totally lost as to my meaning right now then I do apologise!

My hands are pretty tied with what I can and can’t say (I’m sure you’ve realised this already!), so the only advise I can give you is to come to the EGM and demand answers from us there. I for one, will answer every question you have as best I can. I won’t sugar-coat it and I won’t file off the blunt edges. But you need to ask me the questions first before I can answer them.

Source: http://sucommunications.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/the-harsh-reality/

freyners

HOLY ****

Jako8

I really think that any student who can attend the EGM should do so. I hope it's not a case of barely meeting quorum. This is going to be a massive moment for the SU and we should be there to help shape it and demand answers off certain people and clarification from others.

freyners

is the EGM going to be taped for the benefit of co-op/eramus etc students, or a written record being taken?

Jako8

freyners wrote: »

is the EGM going to be taped for the benefit of co-op/eramus etc students, or a written record being taken?

I'd say the best you could hope for is a write up in An Focal and in Thomond Student Times.

wnolan1992

freyners wrote: »

is the EGM going to be taped for the benefit of co-op/eramus etc students, or a written record being taken?

Probably just minutes taken... but whenif a fist fight breaks out I'm sure there'll be video. :pac:

Fishooks12

freyners wrote: »

is the EGM going to be taped for the benefit of co-op/eramus etc students, or a written record being taken?

Thomond Student Times will be covering it anyway

Squarewave

I'll be selling popcorn at the door. Bring your own butter.

reunion

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Thomond Student Times will be covering it anyway

eircom ads on the communications blog. serious times!

I have to disagree with kelly about the paper and ULFM. ULFM should be society and was meant to be student run anyway.
Thomond student times is student run and is quite well. Replace the paper with thomond student times? or set up a similar system?