A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Policy and campaigns officer Chris Swann criticised Moore in YUSU senate for breaching union rules. The AU president was also censured for telling student newspaper Nouse that the “vast majority of students” did not care about the issue.
Moore ordered hundreds of pounds worth of Fruit of the Loom merchandise through supplier ADM for the Roses 2007 tournament despite a vote that barred him from doing so. The motion, passed in March by a majority of 181, states that the union can only buy from companies approved by People and Planet’s ethical guide.
It makes the union appear to be a bunch of distant, cliquey people with no relevance to students
Swann said: “Union policy wasn’t followed when it could have been, and as union officers we have to follow students opinions. It makes the union appear to be a bunch of distant, cliquey people with no relevance to students.”
“If the quote is true about the whole student population then even if it is only a proportion of the student population we still have to listen to them, regardless of how many that is, if they’ve rallied enough support to pass the motion then they’re worth listening to.”
Moore responded by saying that the motion should never have passed as it did not take into account contracts signed with outside companies.
The AU president said: “We have a contract with (ADM) that carries on throughout the year that rotates from the 1st of July basically saying that anyone who asks any union person where to get merchandise from we say we get it from ADM. In return for that we get 10% back in credit to spend on YUSU hoodies."
“The quote about me not caring was completely out of context. I think this is the third edition in a row they (Nouse) have put something in about fairtrade merchandise. I was asking the person who wrote the article if she felt the readership would continue to be interested in it, which obviously they are.”
“Of course I care what the students think. It’s my job to and that’s what I’ve spent the last year doing, I’ve been working on behalf of them.”
Steph Dyson, who wrote the Nouse report, said: “I guess he would say that. I’ve got it recorded that he said that we keep talking about Fruit of the Loom. I personally don’t think it was taken out of context.”
The ethical merchandise motion was passed after a long running drive by People and Planet. Fruit of the Loom has been widely condemned by campaign groups for exploitation as it sources goods from factories that restrict workers rights and provide unsafe conditions.
Kate Evans, chair of York university People and Planet, said: “This kind of attitude is incredibly frustrating . . . Moore's actions make a complete mockery of union policy, what's the point on asking students to vote on motions if officers are just going to ignore them anyway?”
“The motion was passed and is union policy. It is his job to follow this whatever his personal feelings on the matter. Roses happens every year so it's not as if it was short notice. If it wasn't the end of term, I definitely think that he should be made to resign. Unfortunately, with less than two weeks left it seems unlikely this will happen.”
“Unfortunately this does reflect badly on the union, even though the majority of officers do their jobs really well and have been very supportive of the ethical merchandise motion and trying to get it to work.”
Moore said: “I’m a trustee of the union . . . so my legal obligations come above any other obligations that I have. I’ve apologized to everyone who’s come and talked to me about it. I can understand how Kate feels.”
“The contract itself isn’t a problem. ADM do a wide selection of fairtrade material and garments it’s just that they can’t guarantee delivery in time. The previous experience we’ve had with them the fairtrade hoodies took 7 or 8 months to come and they came in the wrong colour. I just wasn’t prepared to have £800 wasted on merchandise.”
The union complaints procedure could have led to a vote of no confidence against Moore. However, the last Union General Meeting of the year had already been held on the 19th of June.
When asked whether working outside union rules was grounds for resignation, Moore said: “In some cases yes I would agree it is but in this case for the reasons I’ve spent the past three months going over I’ve never even considered resigning. Obviously there’s people who disagree with what I’ve done but if I was put in same situation again three months ago before Roses I’d have no choice but to do the same again.”
Swann added: “We’ve had the last UGM and it would have had to have gone through them. It was also to make a point, to remind officers that they have to follow policy, this is not against any particular officer, but the principle of it.Union officers have to be prepared to stand up for students, even if that means at their own expense.”
You must log in to submit a comment.
