Blimey, this isn’t good:
“I lost my job today. The main reasons stated were that my opinions expressed in this blog, in that wiki, and in day to day communications with staff, contradicted the directions of the unit I was working within. Of course these reasons alone, as I put them, would not be enough cause to fire me, so inflation of other reasons was necessary…” [Leigh Blackall]
Met Lee at Blogtalk and he was pretty keen / involved with the technology and teaching and learning (hence his blog Teach and Learn Online) and don’t get that anything he could have said or have written would have been too full on for any particular unit - but then I guess I’m pretty, um, familiar with that sort of thing.
Pretty awful reflection on that unit, wherever it is, wouldn’t you say?
Leigh, you should talk to the NTEU immediately.
Yeah, I’m in the process of writing a response to the supervisor’s report and recomendations, and realised that I probably do need some form of representation. Its awful that it has even came to this level actually. It came as a complete surprise and was inacted very swiftly, but in saying that, relations with one person in particular had soured pretty quickly. I can’t see myself working there again after all this, it would just be awful… what resolution could be found I wonder? Perhaps the NTEU can think of one. And if this blows up in the blogasphere, how will that affect things…?
It is difficult when it happens, unfortunately it is happening a lot at the moment and I suspect it will continue to happen for a while to come. When you publish your thoughts online you open yourself up to attack, when the thoughts disagree with your employer watch out. There is a lot of activity right now in preparing more comprehensive policies so that employees and employers know what is what, something that cannot happen quick enough given the easy of personal publishing.
Good luck Leigh!
Remember what you publish online tends to take on a life of its own.
Its inevitable that guidelines and policy will be prepared to deal with this problem. Lets hope it is informed, wise, non-reactionary, and maintains the freedoms and openness that makes it so beneficial for those of use who benefit from network coms.
MN at Work@TAFE blog has posted an excellent review of the idea, and discussion is being had at the Teach and Learn Online Google Group across a couple of threads.
Work@TAFE is worth a read…
Thanks for the link Leigh, the CorporateBloggingBlog has a great run down on the different aspects of a blogging policy.
The new communications meda are at odds with existing institutional structures. Command & Control does not work when communication and collaboration are distributed worldwide.
I see this as a symtom of the disconnect between our Industrial-age organisations and the reality of the two-way web. We will probably see a lot more of these incidents as corpoarte structures rub against web-empowered employees. Personally, I’ve jumped the corporate ship and I’m not getting back on (not that they would have me anyway).
Damn, if Leigh lived here in the UK I’d have a job offer in his inbox already. He’s just the kind of guy we need at Chalkface!
oops! just pasted my RSS feed url in the comment above. Correct one attached to my name in this post.
Uh, in a University environment, you can’t be fired point blank (notwithstanding serious breach of law) — your supervisor is required to give you warnings (at least one, if not three) over a period of time, with specific advice about how to improve your performance to the required level. They can not reappoint you, if you contract is up, which is functionally the same, but doesn’t end up being unfair dismissal, but if you truly hadn’t heard anything about your job being in jeopardy before this conversation, you’ve got a serious lawsuit on your hands (and you should pursue your entitlement for redundancy — typically a week for each year of service).