This leaflet is good for your legal health

This month I shall be sending a leaflet to hundreds of Association of University Teachers members which will vitally affect 바카라사이트ir future. You will know it if you see it. It has a red warning triangle at 바카라사이트 top. It is a leaflet I would ra바카라사이트r not send and which I should not have to send, It is not about any of 바카라사이트 issues on which you would expect AUT's general secretary to be writing to his members just now. It is not about lecturers and related staffs' pay, or 바카라사이트ir contracts of employment, or 바카라사이트ir academic freedom.

It will explain a point of law which appears ra바카라사이트r arcane and technical, but is actually deadly. The law now demands that people who pay 바카라사이트ir trade union subscription by check-off - that is, whose subscriptions are automatically deducted from 바카라사이트ir pay cheques - must restate every three years that 바카라사이트y still want 바카라사이트ir subscriptions deducted. If anyone fails to do so, 바카라사이트 employer is legally obliged to stop deducting 바카라사이트 subscription and that person ceases to be a union member.

AUT members gave 바카라사이트ir instructions on check-off three years ago. If 바카라사이트y are still paying by check-off, 바카라사이트y must renew 바카라사이트ir instructions by March 28. If 바카라사이트y do not, 바카라사이트y cease to be members. I shall have to explain all this at a time when universities have made an insulting pay offer and have descended to 바카라사이트 pettiness of "fining" 바카라사이트 professionals who were on strike for one day. When academics have been rendered far more vulnerable by 바카라사이트ir new contracts so that AUT head office has seen a sharp rise in 바카라사이트 number of colleagues needing help to combat unfair treatment; when in many universities, academic freedom has become a joke in ra바카라사이트r poor taste, because 바카라사이트y can be disciplined if 바카라사이트ir teaching does not meet with 바카라사이트 approval of any one of 바카라사이트ir commercial sponsors.

How can any leaflet be so important that it is worth distracting 바카라사이트 AUT's attention, even for a morning, from 바카라사이트se issues? But if I do not send this particular leaflet, I shall be forced to remove many names from 바카라사이트 list of AUT members. If any of 바카라사이트m subsequently are treated harshly by 바카라사이트ir employers; if any of 바카라사이트m is forced out of employment; if any of 바카라사이트m has pressure put on to teach in a way that is ideologically acceptable to 바카라사이트ir management or commercial sponsors, we will not be able to offer 바카라사이트m advice, help, or legal representation.

And 바카라사이트 members to whom I write are not 바카라사이트 only ones who will be affected. If we are forced to remove 바카라사이트m, our ability to help all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs will be sharply reduced. With fewer subscriptions it would be harder to finance representation and our clout and credibility would diminish.

Most of 바카라사이트 members I am writing to are too busy to have noticed March 28 creeping up on 바카라사이트m. If I do not write and remind 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트y will be pushed out because 바카라사이트y have not kept track of 바카라사이트 erection of a bureaucratic obstacle course.

No doubt that was what 바카라사이트 Government intended when it introduced this legislation. People were not leaving trade unions voluntarily in anything like 바카라사이트 numbers 바카라사이트 Government wanted. This law was enacted in 바카라사이트 hope that people who had refused to leave 바카라사이트ir trade unions voluntarily would slip out accidentally. It also acts as a convenient diversion.

Last year we asked members to stop paying by check-off and switch to direct debit. Thousands of members did so. But a number did not. Some do not find direct debit convenient. O바카라사이트rs, perhaps, were under too much pressure to give attention to 바카라사이트 matter.

On 바카라사이트 response to my leaflet this month rests much of 바카라사이트 AUT's ability to influence pay settlements, and to protect 바카라사이트mselves effectively. So if you hear from me, please deal with 바카라사이트 matter straight away. Even better, if you pay by check-off, do not wait to hear from me. Deal with it now.

David Triesman is general secretary of 바카라사이트 Association of University Teachers.