The Tribe, the Whole Tribe, and Nothing But the Tribe

Union Malfeasance

Hindsight, we are told, is a wonderful thing.  Others have opined that hindsight is always 20-20 vision.  So you have to be reasonably restrained when considering a case like that of Robert Burrett.

Pukenui School in Te Kuiti tried to get rid of Burrett, its deputy principal, in 2001 because he was drunk, dishevelled and disorganised.  But according to board chair at the time Steve Parry, the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) made the process extremely difficult. [Stuff]

The teachers union ran interference.  The school's deputy principal was allegedly guilty of the "triple D", which must rank right up there with dismissal: he was drunk, dishevelled, and disorganised.  Nevertheless, the union ran interference for him.  Pretty effectively it would seem.

"They were quite evasive and defensive of the guy, and it frustrated us to a high level," Parry said. "Of course a person has rights and has to be protected, but they were really trying to make things confusing and difficult, they weren't really engaging in the problems we had."

So the union was acting like a Gridiron defensive blocker, running interference in the disciplinary process between the employer (the school) and the union member.
 They were in Robert Burrett's corner.  Fast forward to the present, and the comfort of hindsight, and we find

Stephanie Mills, the NZEI's director of campaigns, said she could not comment on individual cases. The union acted for members in cases of competency or misconduct "in order that every member receives natural justice and due process". 

Exactly what "natural justice and due process" entail in such cases is not specified.  However, due process would constitute a disciplinary process spelled out in labour laws and regulations.  If the NZEI has added lots of its own additional rules and steps and processes as part of "due process" then it stands complicit in what subsequently transpired.  Not sure whether the union had.  "Natural justice" is undefined, but according to an employment law specialist, Mary-Jane Thomas:

Procedure, procedure, procedure. I can’t emphasis enough how important it is that employers always act in a procedurally fair manner with dealing with their employees. Although many employers lament the fact that they must follow a fair procedure (particularly in circumstances where they may feel the employee hasn’t been fair), if they don’t it is ultimately them who will pay.

It is unclear whether the union was tribally running interference or was genuine in its demand that the school follow defined and established employment procedure in a dismissal process.  According to the School Chairman, however, the union was acting tribally: it was "evasive and defensive" and made things "confusing and difficult".  Now that does not sound like the union was insisting upon due process and natural justice, since such matters are largely procedural, and process can and ought to be definitively spelt out.  "First you do this, then you do that" kind of stuff.

But it's all OK, because the union spokeswoman, Mills made some follow up assertions:

She said the union had actively engaged with the Education Council in the development of registered teachers' criteria and the council's competency processes.  It "strongly supported" the profession taking responsibility for maintaining and enhancing the quality of teachers, she said. 

What is clear is that in the case of  Robert Burrett, the union's involvement was not at all constructive in the outcome.  Burrett was eventually dismissed, but stayed a registered teacher--even though the union finally realised what sort of a member of the union he was.  They did nothing to refer him to the teacher's disciplinary body:

Six months after Pukenui School first initiated proceedings against Burrett the case went to mediation.  A source familiar with the talks said the union officer was told the school had "grave fears" for the quality of education children were receiving under Burrett, although at that stage there was no suggestion he was behaving inappropriately around them.

The source said the "penny finally dropped" with the NZEI. "Once it became evident to NZEI that this guy was completely useless they said 'can you hang on for another six months and we'll help you go through the process to sack him so he never teaches again'."  But the school was desperate to get rid of Burrett by that stage and the board was authorised to pay him whatever it took to get rid of him. In the end he walked away with about $8000.

"It was surprising that NZEI, given the strength of their convictions at mediation, didn't keep tabs on the chap or perhaps report to the Teachers Registration Council," the source said.  Parry said the school was not able to warn anyone about Burrett because it was bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Then comes the bombshell:

Burrett stayed a registered teacher until after he was convicted last month. It was understood he did some relief teaching until he turned up as a caretaker and bus driver at the Christchurch schools where he molested and raped girls as young as five in an underground shed. Some of the girls were disabled.

One would think that maybe, just maybe  in the light of this horrendous outcome the union would exercise a little humility.  It would refrain from trying to blameshift to someone or something else, cloaking itself with high-sounding statements that are beside the point.  Maybe it would review its role in the case.  Maybe it would revise its responsibilities to include proactively reporting a teacher to the Teacher's Council where they had formed the view that one of their members ought not be a teacher.

But, sadly not.  Tribalism continues.  Its called "class consciousness" and "the solidarity of the working class".  In fact it is the protection of privilege.  In this case the subsequent statements and justifications and obfuscations from Stephanie Mills, union spokeswoman, imply a culture of unprofessional protectionism still rules in the teacher unions.  In her above-quoted response to the travesty which has occurred against the most defenceless amongst us by a union member, Mills appears to confirm the damning complaints of Steve Parry, former Chairman of Pukenui School.

Until the education unions take the lead in bringing unprofessional members before the Teachers Council for discipline it proves by neglect that its primary loyalty is to its tribe, and decidedly not to the children its members have in their charge, nor to the parents and families of those children.