Jane is the "Only candidate for Branch Secretary"

Francis O'Brien, former HFI employee says:

"In spite of management's efforts to stack up a case against me, which could have resulted in my dismissal Jane acted with the utmost professionalism.

She is persistant and leaves no stone unturned. Which is why I had no case to answer.

She is the ONLY candidate for Branch Secretary."

Comment from Mick Ryan, Mechanised Services, HFI

"Jane Doolan is simply the best, always has and always will be.

Jane has done brilliantly to get active career grades for all the staff at a very difficult time in Mechanical Services.
Jane gets our vote everytime."

Comment from Geraldine Grizzle, BWG and HFI

"I Support Jane.

I have known janee for many years. She has always been very hard working and polite and have found her very helpful, understanding and full of empathy."

How Jane Fought Caterlink and stood up for women workers

A Page from our history Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER Published: 20 April 2007

Trouble on the menu School catering deal angers unions UNION chiefs are already heading for conflict with Cater Link, Islington’s new school dinner provider, just a week after it was announced that the firm were being given the prestigious contract. Unison, the main Town Hall union, accused Cater Link of lack of consultation with up to 100 dinner staff who will be providing the new service in the autumn. Branch secretary Jane Doolan is angry that Cater Link has even published its new menu for schools on an education website without liasing with the people who will be preparing and cooking the food. It follows the decision to dump previous school dinner provider Scolarest after a catalogue of complaints from parents and teachers about the service. Cater Link will take over the lucrative contract from September for an undisclosed sum and have pledged to include up to 90 per cent fresh produce in their menus. But Ms Doolan says she has studied the new menus and there is no information about the ingredients or recipes. “On the face of it the menus look fine,” she added. “But there’s no point in providing exciting healthy food if they are, for example, using bulking agents or other unhealthy ingredients. ” Ms Doolan added that none of her members had been involved in discussions, despite the new service having to be up and running by September 1. She added: “This was meant to be a brand new dawn in school catering with parents, teachers and dinner staff involved. Yet so far the new firm have not talked to us. But they are going to need the goodwill of our members.” Another potential source of conflict could be a clause in Cater Link’s contract for “robust training” with “zero tolerance for absence”. Ms Doolan added: “What does that mean? Are they planning to sack people who become ill?” The situation is complicated by the fact that many schools will be cooking their own meals on site and a few are planning to stay with Scolarest on an independent basis. Cater Link was founded in 1993 and provides school meals for more than 200 schools across the country. Tony McKenna, who founded the company and continues to run it, said: “We’ve only just been told that we’ve been appointed. We’re still waiting for the official letter to formally proceed. “I’m obviously keen to follow up with talks with everyone involved. “As far as the menu is concerned there’s a commitment that 90 per cent of all food will be fresh and the menu will be repeated only once every six weeks. Menus will also vary seasonally. He added he didn’t know where the “zero tolerance” for absence came from.

We are against cuts wherever they come from!

Mike Calvert writes:

"I fully support Jane who has always argued and acted in defence of the interests of the members. Under her leadership the branch has taken a firm position against cuts wherever they come from. Jane has also argued - and rightly so - that the current pensions negotiations should be rejected and that our scheme is non-negotiable.

Thanks to the efficient organisation of the branch our participation on November 30th was important and an inspiration for us all.

Changing the leader of a team for it own sake is always a mistake and will be in this case as well."

Diana James Vote4Jane

Jane works for the collective membership on the big issues and for the individual members encountering problems in their workplace. She is not self-serving. Jane serves the Branch. VOTE 4 JANE Diana James

A personal letter from Diana James to members

Dear Member

Re: Islington UNISON Branch Election

From Monday 26th March to Monday April 23rd you should be receiving your ballot papers at your home address) from Regional Office) for the election of the Branch Secretary of your branch - the Islington UNISON branch.

I am writing to you in a personal capacity to tell you why I recommend voting for the re-election of Jane Doolan as the Branch Secretary. (You may be aware that Andrew Berry ex-Deputy Branch Secretary who stood down 3 years ago and who is currently Vice Chair and Labour Link Officer is standing against Jane.)

Jane has a proven track record of successfully managing our Branch.

She was elected as our Branch Secretary 13 years ago and and the Membership have had every confidence in her year on year because she is effective in managing and organising Islington Branch and fights for the right reasons: -

• for those who are on low pay;
• implementation of Equalities
• for minimising redundancies
• for maintaining terms and conditions
• the membership collective
• the individual member encountering difficulties in the work place.

(these are just a few).

Jane took over Islington UNISON when it was in great financial difficulty.

She turned it around and made it financially viable so that year on year it grows stronger.

Jane took over Islington UNISON when it was in inner political turmoil.

She turned this around because she has the skill and ability to understand people.

Jane has enabled Islington UNISON to be strong, solid, stable - effective in challenging the employer.

Jane is loyal to the Membership - she delivers on Branch Democracy.

She has the skill of being able to listen and hear the diverse range of views of members.
The monthly Islington UNISON Branch Committee, where issues are discussed and debated and strategy formulated on behalf of the members with convenors and stewards is well attended because it is run democratically.

Jane is a strong leader - Islington UNISON has a membership of 2462 and 70% are women.

You can read Jane's annual report to be published this week and see what she has been able to achieve this year.

Best regards

Diana James

Enter Jane's blogspot address into Google http://vote4jane2012.blogspot.co.uk

A Personal Letter to all School Support Staff

To all Schools Support Staff

From Rosemary Plummer

Writing in a personal capacity

Dear members

From Monday 26^th March to Monday 23^rd April you will be receiving your ballot papers at home in the election for Branch secretary of Islington UNISON branch.

In a personal capacity, I would urge you to vote for Jane Doolan. Jane has mentored me over several years. Jane is the best Branch Officer I have worked with.

Her qualities include empathy with people, she is non-judgemental, is one of the best negotiators who is able to fight her corner on behalf of all members of the branch.

Jane has been a branch officer in Islington for many years and branch secretary for thirteen years.  In that time she has stood up for ordinary low paid members whether in schools or other places. She is the leading woman branch officer in this branch. Our membership in Islington is 2459 strong and 70% of those members are women. This in itself is a good enough reason to re-elect her.

When Jane took over in 1999 this branch was in chaos. We were nearly bankrupt and Jane brought it back from the brink of collapse.  Therefore given her proven track record I am urging you all to vote for Jane Doolan in the election.

If you want to know more about Jane her annual report will be sent out soon, and there is a blog you can look at on the internet at:

http://vote4jane2012.blogspot.com/

 Please can you put this up in your staff room so that everyone can see it

Yours Sincerely

Rosemary Plummer

Why We are supporting Jane in 2012

Jenny Densham says:

"I have known Jane for several years. She has been an excellent mentor and guided new stewards helping offer them training both provided by the Region and the branch.
Jane always goes above and beyond the call of duty in aiding and assisting our members.
She is the best Branch Secretary I have known!
Jane is from Islington and understands Islington better than anyone I know"

Mike Calvert says:

"Jane is the best candidate for the job. She comes from a poor, Islington working class background just like I come from a poor housing estate in Norfolk. She shares so much in common with her members that she is the ONLY candidate who speaks up for the members of Islington.
Jane understands what it is like to not have enough to live on, she understands what being poor is.
Most important of all, she is a woman. 70% of our 2462 members are women.
Only Jane can empathise and represent them!"

Rosemary Plummer says:

"Jane Doolan has been Branch Secretary for a few years now due to the fact she connects with the membership has empathy for people and is non judgemental.Islington Unison has gone through many Organisational reviews over the past couple of years, what ever department they are in Jane gets involved and does her utmost to prevent redundancies it has been far from easy.
Jane is a stickler for making sure all Organisational responses are completed.
Jane works way beyond her call of duty supporting members. 
 As an Islington girl born and bred she understands poverty, she understands discrimination coming from an Irish immigrant background
VOTE JANE DOOLAN!"


Diana James says:

"Jane works for the collective membership on the big issues and for the individual members encountering problems in their workplace. She is not self-serving. Jane serves the Branch.
VOTE 4 JANE"

Report from the Speak up for Libraries Rally

Alan Wylie writes:

I attended the ‘Speak up for Libraries’ Rally on Tuesday 13/03/12 held at the Central Methodist Hall in Westminster.

‘Speak up for Libraries’ is a coalition (a dirty word nowadays!) made up of Unison, The WI, VTFL, CILIP, Campaign for the Book, The Library Campaign and library campaigners Mar Dixon and Elizabeth Ash.

The day started off with watching Ed Vaizey giving evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into library closures on a large screen in the main hall, great joy was had when two of the SOS Brent library campaigners sat right behind him with there bright red sloganed t-shirts clearly on view!

300 or so campaigners then listened to passionate speeches in support of libraries and library staff by;

Alan Gibbons

Kate Mosse

Philip Ardagh

Ian Anstice (Public Libraries News)

Ian Clark (VFTL)

Dave Prentiss

Dan Jarvis (Shadow Culture Minister)

Andrew Coburn (Chair of the Library Campaign)

And others

I with other members of the VFTL team staffed the ‘pop up’ library, shook hands and answered questions from MPs.

At around 2pm the protest moved over to the House of Commons where groups and individuals lobbied their MPs and waved banners outside.

All in all it was a very positive and worthwhile day and will hopefully be used as a catalyst for further action!

Alan Wylie is a Libraries steward at Central Library and a supporter of the Re-elect Jane 2012 campaign