The Education Union of Mann/EdUMann

Summary

The request sought details on communications, meetings, agreements, and financial assistance between the Department of Education, Sport and Culture and the Education Union of Mann (EdUMann). The authority disclosed several email records and confirmed an informal meeting occurred, but stated no formal agreements or financial assistance were provided and no meeting minutes existed.

Key Facts

• Four email records were released covering dates from April to July 2020.
• An informal meeting between DESC and EdUMann took place on 27 July 2020 at 9:30am.
• No formal agreements exist between the Department and the Education Union of Mann.
• No financial assistance, loans, grants, or guarantees have been provided to the union by the government.
• Personal information within the released emails was redacted under Section 25 of the FOI Act.

Data Disclosed

• 16 April 2020
• 25 May 2020
• 15 July 2020
• 16 July 2020
• 27 July 2020
• 9:30am
• Section 25
• Article 5
• Article 6
• Trade Unions Act 1991
• 12 pages
• 5 documents

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act (absolutely exempt personal information)
• Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (data protection principles)
• Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation (conditions for lawful processing)

Original Request

Various questions in relation to the new trade union Education Union of Mann.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Corporate Services Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EZ Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im Our ref: 1420021 9 September 2020

Dear ###,

We write further to your request which was received on 12 August 2020 and which states:

"I am requesting all information held under the Isle of Man Freedom of Information Act 2015 in relation to the following points; 1. Have any formal/informal approaches or discussions/meetings/talks, including but not limited to in writing (including emails), via telephone or videoconferencing, or in person, taken place between Jess Egelnick/Tina Gleghorn or any other person/s regarding the Education Union of Mann, also known as EdUMann, taken place with any DESC Official/s or the Minster for Education/other Government Officials? 2. If 'yes' to any of the above, then I am requesting the dates and times of any meetings and any records, including but not limited to emails, letters, recordings, transcripts and minutes, relating to meetings/talks /discussions. 3. Has any agreement on any matter whatsoever been made between the DESC or its Representatives with the new union? Including anything 'in principle', if so, please provide the details. 4. Has any financial assistance been provided to the Education Union of Mann, in any form including but not limited to loans, grants or guarantees, by any Department or branch of the Isle of Man Government? If yes we request full disclosure of the details of any such arrangements/assistance. 5. What are the bargaining units with the DESC for all of its employees? 6. How many FTE employees are there in each of the bargaining units? 7. Has the new union been registered in accordance with the Trade Unions Act 1991? If 'yes', when was it registered & by whom? 8. If the new union has been registered, how has the Registrar General assured themselves of this organisation's ability to carry out the functions of a trade union. They are currently purporting to offer the following services:

• advice and interpretation of contracts, policies, terms and conditions, etc.
• support/ advice on dealing with workplace issues of all types, including conflict, unfair treatment, unreasonable expectations, capability concerns, etc.
• support during investigations, hearings, appeals, etc.
• legal support and advice for employment issues that go beyond this.
• CPD on topics and by providers selected by members. We wish to know what assurances the Registrar General has sought to ensure that the Education Union of Mann are able to provide these services. For instance: · what evidence is there of adequate personal and financial liability insurance; · what evidence is there of them having adequately trained officers; · what evidence is there of them being able to financially secure adequate and appropriate legal representation. · what evidence is there of them being able to comply with rules around data protection and GDPR." Our response to your request is as follows: Communication between DESC and Education Union of Mann I have enclosed the following information that is held: 1) Email dated 16 April 2020 2) Email trail dated 25 May – 15 July 2020 3) Email dated 15 July 2020 4) Email dated 16 July 2020 Some of the information received in relation to the emails above, contained personal information and under section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act (absolutely exempt personal information) is exempt and has therefore been redacted. The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • The Department is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and • The Department is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to The Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that the Department of Education Sport and Culture can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

Dates and times of any meetings As stated in the email dated 15 July 2020 an informal meeting took place on 27 July 2020 at 9:30am. Records of any meetings While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. This is because there are no records from the meeting that took place on 27 July 2020. Agreements between DESC and Education Union of Mann While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. This is because there are no agreements in place between DESC and the Education Union of Mann. Financial assistance provided to Education Union of Mann While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find some of the information that you have requested. This is because no financial assistance has been provided to the Education Union of Mann. Bargaining units with the DESC A bargaining unit is a Joint Negotiating Committee’s (JNC). There are 2 JNC’s with the DESC, which are for the following employees within DESC: 1) Teachers 2) Lecturers Teachers and lecturers are the only employees of DESC and all other staff are employed by the Public Service Commission. Number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees within each bargaining unit The number of FTE employees employed by DESC as of 1 September 2020 are as follows: 1) Teachers = 782.14 2) Lecturers = 111.88 Registration of Education Union of Mann While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. This is because DESC are not involved in the registration of trade unions. By way of advice and assistance this information may be available by making a Freedom of Information request to The General Registry.

Assurances in relation to Education Union of Mann While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. This is because DESC do not have access to information held by The General Registry. By way of advice and assistance this information may be available by making a Freedom of Information request to The General Registry.
Please quote the reference number 1420021 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Coordinator

From: on behalf of Barr, Ronald To: Subject: FW: Union Date: 17 August 2020 16:15:36     From: Jessica Egelnick

Sent: 16 April 2020 20:41 To: Barr, Ronald Subject: Union   Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.  Hello Ronald.   (I'm writing from my personal email.)   I wanted to let you know that Tina and I had to let members know today that we're stepping down from our secretarial roles in September, because we need to recruit a new Secretary for the NEU.   We have some sort of 'mole' who regularly forwards our newsletters to the NASUWT, and they did the same with this one.    Anyway, forwarded it to our Regional Office (before we got around to telling them about our plans).   So the existence of the Education Union of Mann is now out there.   My guess is that the NASUWT and maybe the other unions, will try to arrange the TURA so as to make it difficult for EdUMann to be recognised and on the JNC. That obviously is a concern for us as a new union. Our registration forms are in transit, and we're well on our way to making 10% by September so that we can legitimately be recognised at the JNC.   In any case, if you haven't already, please feel free to let your SLT know both that we are leaving the NEU in September and that we are heading up a new locally based union.   I've been nominated and seconded as General Secretary, so you may well still be negotiating with me in the future. We haven't finalised anything yet though.   Best wishes,   Jess

From: on behalf of Barr, Ronald To: Subject: FW: Summer Date: 17 August 2020 16:13:22     From: jessica.egelnick@

Sent: 15 July 2020 13:26 To: Barr, Ronald Subject: Re: Summer   Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.  Hello Ronald, Have you heard from about possible dialogue between us? I feel really out of the loop. We're aiming to launch formally next week with media etc... It'll be tough going forward if I have no idea what's going on.   Incidentally, we have no intention of joining a 'joint unions' side in the pay negotiations! There will be no kow-towing to UK unions from the Education Union of Mann. But we do need to stay informed and be able to share info and updates with members, especially on key issues that they're concerned about.   Best wishes,   Jess         On 2020-05-26 13:26, Barr, Ronald wrote: Hello Jess, There are no plans for summer schools that I am aware of. You will of course be aware of the requirement to get 5 eaching profession to approve you joining the JNC. n provide you with the details around this. I will also c about any issues that I am unaware of that would prevent positi ialogue! Best wishes, Ronald -----Original Message-- From: jessica.egelnick@ [mailto:jessica.egelnic Sent: 25 May 2020 21:49 To: Barr, Ronald Subject: Summer Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links. Hello Ronald, I wanted to let you know that the Education Union of Mann is now registered as Union #73 on the Isle of Man. We'll be launching 'publicly' within the month. I am General Secretary, Tina is Treasurer, Sally Pringle is President, and Ian Longshaw is Vice President. We're hoping to be ready to ask for a seat on the JNC for September. Also, I thought I would check in with you about rumours about summer school. Are you able to shed any light on what the plans/ideas/possibilities are with this? Are you able/willing to continue the informal chats we had when I was with NEU, but now as EdUMann? Best wishes, Jess Isle of Man. Giving you freedom to flourish WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e-mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible. No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of any of the Departments or Statutory Boards of the Isle of Man Government with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by a Manager of the relevant Department or Statutory Board. RAAUE: S’preevaadjagh yn çhaghteraght post-l shoh chammah’s coadanyn erbee currit marish as ta shoh coadit ec y leigh. Cha nhegin diu coipal ny cur eh da peiagh erbee elley ny ymmydey yn chooid t’ayn er aght erbee dyn kied leayr veih’n choyrtagh. Mannagh nee shiu yn enmyssagh kiarit jeh’n phost-l shoh, doll-shiu magh eh, my sailliu, as cur-shiu fys da’n choyrtagh cha leah as oddys shiu. Cha nel kied currit da failleydagh ny jantagh erbee conaant y yannoo rish peiagh ny possan erbee lesh post-l er son Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh erbee jeh Reiltys Ellan Vannin dyn co-niartaghey scruit leayr veih Reireyder y Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh t’eh bentyn rish.

From: jessica.egelnick@ To: Subject: Re: Meeting with RB Date: 15 July 2020 17:09:29 Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links. Excellent, thank you.

On 15 Jul 2020, at 16:50, wrote:

Hi Jess

Shall we say 9.30am on Monday 27 July and that then leaves the rest of the day free for you as you are meant be on holiday.

Best wishes

-----Original Message----- From: jessica.egelnick@ Sent: 15 July 2020 15:02 To: Subject: Re: Meeting with RB

Caution: This email is from an external sender. Please take care before opening any attachments or following any links.

Hi . Either date and any time works for me! Slot me in whenever it suits Ronald best. Everything is good with me, thanks! Many thanks, Jess

On 15 Jul 2020, at 14:55, wrote:

Hi Jess

Good to hear from you.  Yes, I'm well thanks and I hope you are too.

Any time on 27 or 29 July is probably best for Ronald.  Let me know what time suits you.

Best wishes

-----Original Message----- From: jessica.egel

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