Poor old Sean. He’s been spotted on Facebook recently complaining that he’s “the only sabb in about the last six years not to get nominated for union honorary life membership by his co-workers”. An achievement in itself, Sean!
Double-take
But before the tears start running down your legs, take heart – Sean didn’t go without completely; minutes from the Union Council meeting which made the HLM decisions reveal that Sean received eight votes for Social Colours, one for Centenary Colours, and four for HLM, while two voters declared he should get nothing. This voting would seem to indicate that Sean was up for a Social Colours Award – a worthwhile commendation, although admittedly pretty paltry in comparison to the HLMs awarded to all the other sabbs.
Yet at the recent Social Colours ball, Sean didn’t make his way up to the stage for a handshake and pin-badge as a Social Colours awardee, but was instead awarded with Centenary Colours (the second highest accolade after an HLM). Forgive our double-take: how exactly did that happen?
The Services and Events Officer, Olivia Alford, explained why Sean ended up with Centenary Colours, despite the majority of votes being for Social Colours. Apparently, the voting calculation is not based on the number of votes per category (er, why not?) but rather by looking at the cross-section of votes and working out the median. Alford declared that by calculating the result this way, the decision was taken to award Sean with Centenary Colours.
Yet the Committee seems to have forgotten to count the votes which declared that Sean should get nothing. If these are also taken into account, the median falls slightly lower – and into the category of plain old Social Colours. Shall we break it to Sean? Or do you think he already knows…
No guilt
Not that the awards really matter anyway. The sabbs who were ‘awarded’ HLMs at the Social Colours Ball are still waiting to have it confirmed by union council. Members of the council (many of whom are also members of SDUCL) seem to be putting their collective feet down; as Alford says, “SDUCL doesn’t like us” and seems to want to make things difficult for the sabbs who they see as being in cohorts with the controversial figure Jim Hunkin. (see CG17)
In Sean’s case, it seems that the snub is a good excuse for the way he can conduct his last couple of months in office. As he also noted on a friend’s Facebook wall, the decision not to award him an HLM means that: “I no longer feel guilty about leaving work early”. Going above and beyond the call of duty, as always.
