The team at Dunoon Burgh Hall are anxious that as many folk as possible know that Santa’s visit to the Burgh Hall tomorrow – Saturday 17th December – has had to be cancelled.
There was a problem with access to the hall in time to get it ready for the gift-burdened one.
Please pass the word on to help to avoid disappointed children.
all os not lost! I am pleased to say that there is a Christmas fete being held at the Scout Hall, Victoria Road, Dunoon from 11am. Saturday 17th I beleive Santa will put in an appearance
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Cllr Simon – glad tosee you’ve posrted.
Very frquently on here we read allegations from FA and others of a “bullying culture” within the Council.
Can I ask you as an elected Member if you are aware of these allegations?
Are you aware of a “bullying culture” within your Council?
If so what steps have you taken to get these allegations investigated?
If you do not believe there is this “bullying culure” what steps are you taking, on here and elsewhere, to protect the good name of the Council of which you are a Member against these unsubstantiated allegations?
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I beleive in a zero tolerance approach to bullying or intimidation in the workplace in whatever form it may manifest. If anyone has any allegation of such practices within tne Council I am more than happy to take up the matter and have it addressed.
Cant help feel this is a bit off topic on this thread.
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Thanks for your response.
Since you have a commendable zero tolerance approach to bullying I think it is fair to assume that you, like Cllr Freeman, are not aware of a “bullying culture~” within the Coucnil – otherwise you would have done something about it.
It is off topic. But since FA control the threads – I have to try to talk to Cllrs aobut this as and when I can as I fed up with FA and others unchallenged and unsubstantiated allegations of bullying within the Council.
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I am not sure who your local Councillors are but I would be extremely surprised if you were unable to communicate with them directly rather than through than simply through this blog.
My email address is ron.simon@argyll-bute.gov.uk anyone reading this is welcome to contact me direct on any matter and in confidence. I think it is important to be understood that anything of such sensitivity is handled confidentially and through the proper channells to protect everyone concerned and not subject to speculation and uninformed comment on the blogosphere – this is peoples livliehoods we are talking about. Sometimes this medium can be rather insensititve and over personalised abeit perhaps unintentional.
If for Argyll or any individual wants to contact me with specifics I will take it forward on that basis.
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Thanks Cllr Simon – that is extremely helpful.
Like you I was concerned that this is “not subject to speculation and uninformed comment on the blogosphere”. The trouble is that is excatly what has been happening with For Argyll leading with these nasty unsubstantiated accusations and others gratiously joining in.
I have two simple and reasonable objectives:- If there is bullying then it must addressed and bullies punished.
If there is no bullying, then quite simply, For Argyll should shut up.
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Simon
I dont think its quite as black and white as that, its the type of thing that can manifest in various degrees, in most large organisations perceptions can often be reached depending on perspectives. There are a lot of injustices out there not necessarily linked to workplace bullying but certainly related to the Council. I spend every day working hard to address these.
Argyll and Bute’s greatest asset is its people. The majority of Council staff are conciencous, hard working and often dynamic people who seldom get the thanks or praise they deserve. More than that they are human beings with families and feelings and real potential which if fully harnessed would make us unstoppable. they deserve respect as well as scrutiny and challenge. For Argyll certainly has a role to play in that.
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Simon, why don’t you be Santa? I’m sure your cheerful disposition will be a big hit with the kids
Cllr Simon, were you aware during the school closures, Council Employees (not just teachers) were instructed by Council Officers they were not allowed to comment in any way about them? (even if their children were in one of the threatened schools)
Were you also aware that emails coming to and from staff at the threatened schools were monitored by Council Officers to check that this silence was kept?
Have a nice weekend y’all
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Cllr Simon, “For Argyll certainly has a role to play in that”.
Agreed and first and foremost that roll should be to desist from making unsubstantiated allegations of bullying in the Council on these pages.
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For Simon: We have made no ‘unsubstantiated allegations of bullying in the council’.
\We have made fully substantiated accusations of bullying – at the highest level.
You cannot have forgotten so soon two specific events that have happened within the last year and reported here in full:
Councillor George Freeman was hounded out of the Alliance of Independents, his role in the then administration and his paid senior posts, by a gang of fellow councillors (Duncan Macinthyre, Vivien Dance, Bruce Marshall and Neil Mackay) — for voting, on the evidence, in opposition to the school closures proposal. Members of that unpleasant gang, coincidentally, did very well out of the resulting reshuffle, with, for example, Coucncillor Dance inheriting Councilor Freeman’s key paid job as Chair of the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee; Councillor Mackay elevated from nowhere to the position of paid senior councillor for – incredibly – energy, enterprise, culture and tourism; and Councillor Marshalls’ efforts rewarded with being raised to the post of paid spokesperson for environment..
Then there was the late Counciillor Skye McIntosh who attested publicly, twice, once on radio and once at a public meeting, of his having been personally and unpleasantly threatened by the Council Leader himself when he intended to vote with his conscience in support of a project the council had decided to trash.
You may not like this picture – who does? – but we are doing no more than holding up a mirror to what actually goes on in the diseased culture of bullying at Kilmory.
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Csb
As you know I was in the frontline during the closure debacle. I sought clarity on the instruction and it was very clear that staff could comment during the consultation if they made it clear they were doing so as a parent.
I am not aware of “staff” communications being moniitored but again if you have a specific allegation/evidence please forward it to me and I will take it up.
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Interesting that you should say that Cllr Simon as that isn’t the message passed to my relative through her line manager. Funnily enough they weren’t keen on giving the message in writing, only verbally.
It also isn’t the message that was passed to teachers who would only speak to me confidentially.
Surely teachers are best placed to talk about the potential positives and negatives of school closure and therefore it should be irrelevant whether they are parents or not. What is surely most important is getting to the right decision based on intelligence rather than based on limited knowledge of educational matters written by officers who were often not in education.
It is still bizarre that QIOs were not even involved in writing the educational benefit statements and nobody, as yet has explained why that was the case.
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I’ll bet Cllr. Simon wishes he hadn’t commented on this. “Oor Simon” is not the most considerate person (if he is only one, at all) and welcomes any opportunity to follow his/their own agenda. This agenda would appear to doing everything he/they can to discredit the reputation of FA, even hijacking a Santa thread!
This is a common tactic by those in the “Establishment” and in “positions”. Don’t bother with the allegation and whether it is true or not, just ridicule the messenger. The more doubt that can be cast, the better. Been there, had that done!
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Andy – it is quite unacceptable that you post “Don’t bother with the allegation and whether it is true or not, just ridicule the messenger”.
I’ve said before and I shall say it again – if there is bullying going on – then the bullies should be exposed and dealt with.
If there is not any bullying – [and Cllr Freeman says he doesn't believe staff are being bullied and Cllr Simon states above "that staff could comment during the consultation if they made it clear they were doing so as a parent"] then Newsie should really stop banging on about it.
Bullying is unacceptable. But then, so are sleekit smears, innuendo, distortion, lies and spin. So, c’mon Newsie – in terms of the “bullying culture” either put up or shut up.
Have a nice night.
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We all know that one of “Simon’s” aims is to deflect the discussion from the topic in hand but hijacking a thread about Santa is a bit desperate! Mind you (and I hope my younger daughter isn’t looking at this) Santa is also a mythical figure and often represented by many fat men in false beards all claiming to be Santa. But only small children believe they are the “real” Santa no matter how good their “Ho-ho-ho”.
As to the cultural problem with ABC: I don’t think this is in any way unique to our Council (as Cllr Simon alludes), the question more being is it worse in ABC than in other Councils. “Simon” is again being cute about this: people are not generally asserting that bullying per se is going on (except amongst councillors themselves interestingly). Bullying implies an individual abusing their power over someone else. This is probably quite rare (though the stress figures for the Community Services Department are quite interesting and might merit some further research).
However, what people are really talking about is a culture where employees are afraid to speak out on any subject for fear that they will be reprimanded for not toeing the “party” line. I have come across this just so many times not to believe that ABC does have a culture problem and this inhibits ABC (and by association the citizens of Argyll) from really deriving the best from the human capital within the Council.
The official line may have been that council employees could comment on school closures if they were parents (but not presumably if they were members of affected communities or indeed if they were in danger of losing their own jobs) but I myself saw a case where a teacher (who was a parent)commented on the importance of small class sizes at a public meeting and was the next day hauled in front of his head and told in no short terms that there would be dire consequences if he ever did that again.
I have already related a number of instances where teachers (including heads) were nervous about possible consequences of being seen to be associated with anything that could be seen as criticism of the Council.
This is not a healthy culture. Whether ABC is worse in this regard than other councils I do not know but it is something that needs fixed and I hope the new political leadership come May is proactive in improving things.
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“doc” your most recent six-paragraph-epistle is nothing more than you being an apologist for Newsie and the often repeated accusations of the “bullying culture” in the Council.
Until I challenged this now fatuous “bullying culture in the Council” claim – it was, well just accepted on here as ‘the truth’ and that the Council were bullies.
Now it transpires that Cllr Freeman* has no evidence of bullying whislt Cllr Simon has a zero tolerance on bullying and has never had cause to act. Cllr Simon has also appealed to people to contact him if they were being bullied.
Meanwhile in a galaxy far, far away – Furnace(?)- Newsie has now redefined the “bullying culture within the Council” as meaning that Cllrs get bullied.
Aw diddums!
Politics is about who gets what, when and how. It can be dirty work (certtainly not for me) but I do have to say that if any Councillor/MSP/MP can’t stand up for themselves then as my Granny would’ve said “Hell mend them”.
Newsie time has been called on your smears, inneudo and downright lies – if you have one shred of evidence that there exists “the diseased culture of bullying at Kilmory” then produce it. If not on here then to Cllr Ron Simon direct.
In short Newsie – put up or shut up.
Have a nice night.
*I want to apologise (in part at least) for ambushing Cllrs Freeman and Simon over these unsubstantiated claims that now look like part of an overall asttempt to discredit the Council. However, I should also add that I intend similarly ‘ambushing’ every councillor who comes on here to put the same questions to them.
If there is bullying within the Council that must be addressed and the bullies punished.
If there is not bullying then FA, Newsie and the other usual suspects on here really need to wind their necks in.
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Simon really appears to have got themselves wound up about this one. I wonder why.
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An apologist for Newsroom! I will add that to my epithets.
Twisting as ever: “Simon” says but never listens. This latest tactic of “ambushing” councillors has the obvious effect of making councillors less likely to comment on here – and as these are all opposition councillors (why do we never hear from administration councillors? have they been told never to post here?)then shutting them up is a win for “Simon” and if they do persevere then they can look forward to more of the “have you stopped beating your wife?” style of questioning.
“Simon” is, as usual, conflating different problems. There is straightforward bullying of council staff; there is institutional stifling of the Councils’ workforce and oppressing criticism of the Council and then there is unacceptable bullying behaviour by councillors.
Taking these in reverse order: no it is not OK for councillors or any other politicians to attempt to bully their peers. This seems to be a one way street for “Simon”: the SNP bully and are condemned but if anyone in the SNP (or other opposition groups in Argyll) complain of bullying then they are namby-pambys. Plenty of evidence of councillors not behaving themselves: do I not remember a report of councillors being ticked off by the CEO recently for unbecoming conduct in the canteen?
As to bullying amongst staff, I would be surprised if councillors were made aware of this. This is an operational matter and the correct response is to make representations through your line management system. Of course anyone who does knows that they will be instantly labelled a trouble maker for rocking the boat. Only the most serious cases will ever surface as most people will reckon the process isn’t worth the grief. I doubt that ABC is worse than any other council in this regard and I don’t doubt that the Council has robust policies in place to deal with allegations AFTER they surface.
The third area, though, is where the concern lies and what we have been talking about: a culture where people are afraid to criticise the council because they will suffer consequences if they do. This affects not only staff but anyone who interacts with the council. It is real and I think we will keep commenting on it as long as “Simon” keeps bringing the subject up.
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“doc” as ever you are rich on rhetoric but very, very, short on anything else apart from hearsay and supposition.
And rest assured “doc” that as long as Newsie and you and others keep making your cheap unsubstantiuated posts about the Council’s supposed “bullying culture” then I shall be on here challenging you for proof. Because there are some whogenuinely feel these “bullying” accusations from you and others are part and parcel of a deliberate smear attempt.
Now I’ll say again – you really should stop writing your lengthy epistles and either put up or shut up about the alleged bullying.
Still – it is the weekend – so have a good one.
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Ooops – sorry “doc”. I did mean to say – please stop being part of the problem. Penultimate para above applies.
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This whole issue was brought up largely by you “Simon”. You asked for evidence of a “bullying” culture which was duly supplied by a variety of councillors, regular posters and newsroom. You ignore all of this and but still continually demand proof or else we should shut up. You then accuse those of us who have offered evidence of smearing the council. So there is a conspiracy now? These disruptive tactics are becoming tiresome.
Being paranoid doesn’t mean that people aren’t out to get you but I’m pretty sure it is not me who is being paranoid here.
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