YUSU in continued row over ethics
YUSU Service and Finance Officer Matt Burton has been forced to withdraw a UGM motion that, if passed, could make the sourcing of next year’s Viking Raid t-shirts exempt from current ethical merchandise regulations. The controversial motion triggered a furious row with YUSU Environment and Ethics Officers and has led to a number of leaks from within the Union. Two separate sources within YUSU have alleged that the first line of an original draft of the motion read “students have a price on ethics”.
The motion, which allegedly described the policy change as a “common sense” approach to ethical merchandise, was withdrawn hours before the UGM final deadline submission following heated last minute talks between Burton and YUSU Environment and Ethics Officer Tom Langley. Sources close to Langley have reported that he considered resignation if the motion was not withdrawn.
The motion noted that the route for the Viking Raid and the design of the t-shirts was difficult to finalise well in advance of the event. It proposed that the shirts’ supplier should be able to guarantee a production turn around of one week. If this one week criteria could not be met by an ethically-sourcing company the motion would allow union officers to source from a company without ethical credentials.
The motion was seconded by YUSU Ents Officer Rory Shanks and former Societies and Communications Officer Colin Hindson.
Burton said the purpose of the motion was to reduce YUSU’s dependence on the People & Planet Ethical Merchandise guide, a list of suppliers which the current motion mandates the union to source from.
He said: “At the moment we are linked to a webpage that can be changed daily, it could be reduced down to one supplier at whim of the society. It leaves the union vulnerable in that there isn’t a pre-defined list and it isn’t down to its own officers to decide.”
A second source within YUSU emailed Nouse anonymously claiming that the aim of the motion was to “revoke the old motion, making the ethical merchandise policy entirely non-binding. The buyers of merchandise had to ‘consult’ with Environment and Ethics officers, not be bound by a list of approved suppliers.”
Burton admitted that no attempt had been made to contact either of the Environment and Ethics Officers over the summer in order to consult them on the proposed policy shift.
Speaking in Senate on Wednesday, before the motion was withdrawn, Langley stressed that the Environmental and Ethics officers should be consulted on all policy concerning ethical merchandise. He said: “If we give you advice, its part of union policy. We must be listened to or we’ll be completely undermined.” The speech, widely seen as thinly-veiled criticism of the Service and Finance officer’s handling of the situation, came shortly after Burton announced that he was intending to submit the new motion.
Following the motion’s withdrawal Langley and fellow Environmental and Ethics officer Tom Williams released a statement saying, “We are pleased that the motion has been withdrawn, although we are bemused that it was submitted in the first place. We are looking forward to working with the other officers of the Union to writing a motion which encompasses the spirit of the current motion’s policy and gives increased functionality to the union.”
People & Planet Chair Kate Evans said she was relieved the motion had be withdrawn. She rejected claims that students put a price on ethics, saying, “It is certainly not a healthy philosophy, and I suspect that the reason they are arguing this is because a successful ethical merchandise motion would involve a bit of hard work. Students have voted for this motion , and therefore it’s the job of the sabbatical officers to make it work.”
