DID I really read that? I blinked, rubbed my eyes and read it again but it was still there! In your report (TESS, December 1) about the secret meeting in Peebles to smooth relationships among the groups working on the McCrone proposals, the unions were criticised by the management side for being “driven by their members”.
So, the union leaderships are seen as doing what their members want them to do.
Dearie me, whatever next? In fact, union leaders are supposed to do what their members want - that is the point of unions, after all.
As a long-suffering member of the Eduational Institute of Scotland, I wish the union leadership represented its members’ views far more forcefully than has often been the case.
Of course, I assume the management’s criticism really amounted to a complaint that the unions do not simply do what the bosses tell them to.
Perhaps we will get a decent education system in Scotland when the self perpetuating oligarchy of the management side is actually “driven by” the needs and wishes of those whom it is meant to serve, namely, pupils, parents and teachers.
Bill Cooper
Highfield Circle
Kinross
