National Union of Teachers forces closure of UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line

Sunday 4 January 2004

Embargo: Monday 5 January 2004 at 00:01am

From: Tim Field at The Field Foundation, thefieldfoundation

Attention: news editors, education correspondents, civil rights organisations, trade unions

The specious libel action against UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line founder Tim Field by an Oxfordshire County Council Education Department personnel officer backed by the full support of the National Union of Teachers has resulted in Field having to take the difficult decision to close the Advice Line after eight years of operation.

Defending the frivolous vexatious legal action being taken against him means he no longer has the physical, emotional or financial resources to continue operating the Advice Line and the telephone service will cease operation on 31 January 2004. All support services will be transferred to Bully OnLine at Bully Online

The UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line came into being in January 1996 and took off after an article by Paul Gosling titled Workplace bullies under the cosh appeared in the Independent on Sunday. During eight years of operation, the Advice Line, which has become something of an institution, has helped thousands of people identify and deal with bullying in their workplaces. Operated solely by Tim Field, he has, although not a counsellor himself, counselled many targets of bullying out of attempting suicide. The Advice Line has logged over 8000 enquiries and over 7000 cases of workplace bullying (for technical reasons not all enquiries have been counted so the true total could be treble these figures).

It is particularly ironic in that it was the UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line which enabled many NUT teacher members to report that the NUT was denying members access to advice, support and legal services to which members were contractually entitled.

Teachers have consistently been Field's largest group of callers and enquirers. At the start in 1996 teachers calling the Advice Line belonged to a range of teacher unions, but by 1999 at least 80% of teachers calling the Advice Line and visiting Bully OnLine were and are NUT members. Cases reported to the Advice Line indicate that the failure of NUT paid officers to support teacher members in cases of bullying extends throughout England and Wales.

Field believes that the legal action against him is a specious misappropriation of the civil laws of libel with the objective of controlling, manipulating, punishing and silencing a critic of the actions and inactions of paid officers of the National Union of Teachers. On reflection Field says he can see that he wittingly and unwittingly blew the whistle on failings in both Oxfordshire County Council Education Department and of National Union of Teachers paid officers.

Field also believes that the actions of paid officers of the National Union of Teachers are bringing the NUT into disrepute and constitute a slap in the face for local NUT representatives and teacher members at a time when teacher unions should be standing strong and focusing on issues affecting teachers. NUT representatives and members might wish to ask Doug McAvoy why he is sanctioning unlimited spending on a specious and frivolous libel action whilst simultaneously cutting Association grants and abolishing funding for secretaries to attend national conference?

This is not the first time that paid officers of the National Union of Teachers have used NUT members' subscriptions to fund legal action to silence critics. It is believed that NUT teacher members are not informed that their subscriptions are being used in this way, nor are NUT teacher members asked if this is an acceptable use of their subscriptions. It seems that much of the twilight time of general secretary Doug McAvoy's presidency of the National Union of Teachers (and his Ł116K salary) is taken up rebutting angry and disaffected members who have been bullied out of their jobs and who feel the NUT has betrayed its trade union principles by preferring cosy accommodation with employers (unethical and unprofessional behaviour in which the conflict of interest is speciously called "partnership") in preference to fulfilling the union's contractually-binding obligation to provide bullied and stressed teacher members with support and access to legal services.

Whilst the NUT is putting its full legal resources without limit or restraint at the disposal of an Education Department personnel officer, Field's own union, Amicus-MSF, has refused him any support for his case.

Field would like to thank the NUT for bringing this libel action as it has enabled him and others to identify many more weaknesses shortcomings and failings of Oxfordshire County Council Education Department and of paid officers of the National Union of Teachers which would otherwise have remained unknown, unrecognised and unchallenged. The NUT's libel action also provides a public platform to debate and discuss in open court with media present the failings of the Oxfordshire County Council Education Department and of paid officers of the National Union of Teachers.

If anyone knows of any more shortcomings and failings or can provide evidence or witness testimony in respect of conflict within Oxfordshire County Council Education Department or in respect of the National Union of Teachers failing to provide services to its members please contact us.

- ends -

Letter published in the Times Education Supplement (TES) Friday 19 December 2003

Dear Sirs,

I concur with letters concerning the lack of NUT support for teacher members who since 1996 have formed the bulk of teachers calling the UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line and enquiring via the Advice Line's web site Bully OnLine at Bully Online.

Each experience reported bears the same hallmarks: support by local NUT officers is good but once the case moves up a level the member finds their case frustrated and access to legal services to which the member is contractually entitled is denied, in contrast to the seemingly unlimited legal resources made available to members who are head teachers and LEA officers.

Whilst expressing "delight that LEA officers are in membership of the Union" the NUT refuses to justify the conflict of interest and it is left for bullied and stressed teachers who find themselves in conflict with fellow NUT members from their employer's Education Department to wonder if they have mistakenly joined the National Union of Treachery.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Field
Executive Director, The Field Foundation, thefieldfoundation
PO Box 67, Didcot, Oxon OX11 9YS
Tel: 01865 408 345

Articles and documents

UK National Workplace Bullying Advice Line history and statistics.

Threat of libel action by NUT Solicitor Graham Clayton Solicitors: news/feb03-25.htm

Libel writ by Oxfordshire County Council education officer (personnel) Tom Long supported by NUT solicitor Graham Clayton: news/aug03-nut.htm

Tim Field’s defence: contact Tim Field for details

BBC Education Correspondent refers to NUT "internal problems"

Contacts

Tim Field, bio details at bio.htm

National Union of Teachers, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD

Graham Clayton Solicitors, 14-16 Sussex Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4EA, Telephone 01444 452071 Fax 01444 415095

Oxfordshire County Council, www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

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