[IMC-bristol] free speech so long as it doesnt criticise me

[Ecovillage Network UK]

Hi again all,

On to my removal from the group. In even a right-wing organisation like the 
Tory party action to remove me would be considered a 'disciplinary' and 
this one has been conducted in a way that might even cause the most 
grasping bosses to hang their heads in shame. Sorting out some guidance for 
a disciplinary is not rocket science. Try typing "disciplinary procedure" 
into google. All disciplinaries include the following as a minimum
    * the right for the person who is being disciplined to know the procedure
    * the right for the person being disciplined to answer specific 
accusations ( which can't include things like 'we don't trust/like him/her' )
    * the right for the person being disciplined to change his/her ways 
before being ejected (ie you can be ejected only after a minimum of two 
disciplinaries)
    * the right to appeal any descision made by the group (which means as 
part of any disciplinary at least one of the editorial team must take no 
part in the disciplinary so they can hear any appeal)
This is just some of what is known as 'natural justice'. [See the model 
disciplinary/grievance procedure below.]
Anything else is just personal abuse/bullying or backstabbing.

To give an idea of how petty Tuesday's back stabbers are. The only times 
(two in the last year and a half) I have used my editorial privileges, ie 
the password, to feature a story on BIMC that feature has been deleted 
within hours. That was at the Fairford action pictures and feature, which 
Ian Ferguson deleted five minutes after I published it replacing my feature 
with an inaccurate piece, and the bunker feature, where a decison to delete 
it was made where I had no right to reply after I had left the Kebele 
meeting. Funny that both these pieces were exposing the UK/US military - 
wise owls among you will not be so surprised.

The only other admining I've ever done has been removal of non-bristol 
items from the newswire. The old password doesn't work now anyway so I 
can't even do that. Effectively the editorial politbureau silently shut me 
out of the group when the server was changed over to the MIR system a few 
weeks ago. All discussions about who has passwords are conducted outside 
the meetings. Whatever clique BIMC might be - open publishing it is not about.

The editorial power behind Bristol indymedia is the passwords and because 
passwords are given out by and within an unaccountable clique the public 
meetings have become something of a sham. Mind you the username and 
password logins probably allow more accountabliity which is much needed - 
but will they be accountable to the meeting or to the clique?

The way this has all been done is actually quite frightening for the future 
of free speech in a city that deserves better. Whoever the unaccountable 
password holders are - will be controlling the only independent coverage of 
the Fairford trial. It will be interesting to see how secretive or how 
accountable the password holders behave in the weeks and months to come. 
But don't hold your breath.

Anyway I'm not taking Tuesday nights kangaroo court the least bit seriously 
and will discuss this with the BIMC back-stabbing faction - you know who 
you are - who are quite happy to trumpet freedom of speech so long as it's 
not critical of you. Funnily enough just like the Evening Post ;-)

I suggest that we drop the issue of my disciplinary from this list - since 
(some may not have noticed) there's a war on - from the email list and I'll 
see you all at the next BIMC meeting I can get to.

It's not surprising that Tony and Bill, the writers of the indymedia site 
code, were so disappointed with the way their hard work had been trashed in 
London, and now here in Bristol too.

Anyway - Gosling's had his day, we've kicked him out - aren't we clever 
little boys and girls.
But is the password clique part of the solution to the totalitarianism we 
are facing - or part of the problem?

Tony Gosling
0117 944 6219







A model disciplinary/greviance procedure
-----------------------------------------------------------

The following disciplinary procedure is operated if the employer has 
complaints about the conduct, attendance, timekeeping or job performance of 
any employee.

A) A disciplinary sub-committee of the Directors will be established to 
investigate the complaint.  Investigations will be made fully, but as 
quickly as possible.  The employee has a right to a short summary of the 
nature of the complaint in advance of the first meeting of this 
sub-committee unless the employer considers the matter so urgent that such 
a statement cannot reasonably be provided (in which case the employee will 
be informed at the beginning of the meeting). The employee concerned has 
the right to present their case and to be represented or to be accompanied 
by a friend.  A written record of meetings of the sub-committee and its 
decisions will be kept.

B) There are three stages in the disciplinary procedure.
First stage: oral warning or written warning. The employee will be told 
what to do about the situation, either verbally or in writing.  The warning 
will lapse after three months.

Second stage: written warning.  If the complaint persists within the period 
of the previous warning, the procedure will be repeated.  At this stage the 
employee is warned in writing that a further breach of discipline will lead 
to dismissal. The warning will lapse after a year.

Third stage: dismissal.  If there is a further breach of discipline within 
the period of the previous warning, the cooperative may decide, using 
procedure (31) below, to dismiss the employee.

At each stage of the procedure the employee shall be entitled to a further 
short summary of the nature of the complaint, which may be wider or 
narrower than that given earlier.  Warnings lapse after the fixed periods 
of time at each stage.

C) A first disciplinary complaint against an employee shall be treated 
using the first step in the procedure, apart from exceptional circumstances 
in the case of alleged serious or gross misconduct, when an investigation 
at the second or third stage may be initiated. There is no dismissal for 
first offence except in the case of gross misconduct. Examples of gross 
misconduct are theft, assault or willful breach of confidentiality or any 
other deliberate action, which jeopardises the Professional Indemnity of 
the co-operative

D) The disciplinary sub-committee shall have power to impose oral and 
written warnings for first and second stages offence.

The employee shall have the right to appeal against this decision to the 
Directors, by giving written notice of appeal to the Secretary of the 
cooperative within seven days of the decision of the disciplinary 
sub-committee.

E) At the third stage, the disciplinary sub-committee shall advise the 
Directors what disciplinary action, if any, it considers appropriate.  The 
Directors shall not impose any sanction stronger than that recommended by 
the sub-committee, but may choose to impose a lesser penalty or none at 
all. The employee shall have the right to appeal to the General Meeting of 
members of the cooperative by giving written notice of appeal to the 
Secretary of the cooperative within seven days of the decision of the 
Directors (in the case of dismissal, using the procedure outlined in clause 
(31) below).

F) In cases of alleged serious or gross misconduct, an employee may be 
suspended on full pay during the disciplinary procedure or after the 
issuing of a Termination Notice, but their right to attend meetings of the 
cooperative shall not be affected.

30. Grievance procedure
This procedure is to be followed if any employee feels they have a 
grievance against any other employee, or against the operation or decisions 
of the cooperative as a whole, which affects their ability to perform their 
job satisfactorily.

A) The complainant shall ask the Directors to select one of their members 
to meet with the complainant, to discuss and try to resolve the matter.

B) If no solution can be found, the complainant shall put her/his grievance 
to a specially convened sub-committee of the Directors, which will 
investigate the matter, bear representations from the people involved and 
make a formal proposal for its solution. The complainant and any person 
against whom it complaint shall have been made shall have the right to be 
represented or to be accompanied by a friend,

C) If the complainant is not satisfied, there is a right of appeal to the 
General Meeting of members of the cooperative.

If subsequently the employee is still not satisfied, there is a right of 
appeal to an agreed outside arbitrator.

Reference by an employee to another employee in this grievance procedure 
shall not construe any form of disciplinary action by the employer against 
that second employee, and disciplinary matters may only be raised by the 
employer using the procedure laid down in (29) above.

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