LEAF is an acronym for the Lecturers Employment Advice & Action Fellowship. A principal reason for the foundation of the fellowship is to provide members with professional legal advice on matters of employment law that affect them in their work as Lecturers. As a fellowship of professional Lecturers, LEAF will serve the further important purpose of representing the interests of Lecturers in all relevant forums.

LEAF will also reserve the right to challenge any matter that is considered to affect employment rights in the 'profession as a whole.

We will not stand back and witness the continuing erosion of our rights and the decay of the professional status of staff. Those who run LEAF are of a different order. Intelligence, tenacity and sound principles will underpin our success.

With your support, we will shift the focus of power. Our voice will be heard, because the employers will need to listen.
THE ORIGINS OF LEAF
 
LEAF evolved because there was and is a pressing need for an organisation that is able to defend the rights of Lecturers. An organisation that concentrates its attention on the protection of the members rights and campaigns vigorously for the advancement of the professional status of lecturing staff.
To achieve these ends it was realised that an organisation that operated from a sound financial basis was necessary. Moreover, it was important that this new organisation had a legal form that allowed it to pursue industrial relations objectives and provided some immunity for its officers.
 
Your membership of LEAF will provide us with the financial strength necessary to continue to challenge the employers at every turn. Membership will also provide you with the advice and support that you need, WHEN YOU NEED IT.
 
As a member of LEAF, you will not have to fight your way through a 'thicket of bureaucracy' to get the help you need

A NEW START WITH A NEW

LEAF is constituted as a union of professionals. As a professional fellowship, LEAF aims to offer the very best legal services to members, and will campaign to enhance the status of the profession and those who work within it.

A new union is necessary because all the existing unions in the Further Education sector have in one way or another accepted the argument that Lecturers conditions of service have to be worsened.

LEAF does not accept that conclusion, and is unique in that respect.

We believe that, with its dynamic and principled approach, this is the organisation you have been waiting for.

IS LEAF REALLY NEEDED?
 
It has been apparent for some time that the aggressive culture in which we now find ourselves, demands a substantially different approach.
 
It is also very clear that the 'recognised unions' in the sector are unable to cope with the threats that are posed by the new culture.
 
The problems that confront the unions in the FE sector are diverse and deep seated. We believe that they will be unable to effect the necessary changes in the time span needed, if at all. LEAF on the other hand is able to make a fresh start. We have the luxury of planning our organisation to meet today's needs rather than having to rectify yesterdays mistakes.
We know that many thousands of Lecturers are deeply dissatisfied with the recognised unions in the sector.
 
LEAF represents the important transition between past failures and future success.
Yes, LEAF is needed!
 
CAN LEGAL INTERVENTION SOLVE THE CRISIS?
 
We have never been of the opinion that legal action is a panacea for all of our ills. Neither do we believe that the courts are the means by which industrial relations matters should be settled.

However, the plain fact is that, the AOC and the employers are using the law against us in their efforts to dominate the freedom and rights of the individual.

Because the law is complex and difficult for the ordinary person to understand, it is very easy for the employers to threaten the individual in often quite unfounded ways.

LEAF will turn ignorance into knowledge, and cause the employers to reflect much more carefully on their actions.
 
Where the employer crosses the line in their dealings with their staff, they will feel the force of the law used against them. At the moment they know that the sluggish response of the unions, and their dislike for using the law, is in their favour.
 
LEAF will change that scenario. The employers and their representatives will quickly recognise that they are not dealing with a sluggish organisation or one that is averse to applying the law to a problem, where that is possible and desirable.
 
The CEF have already had a taste of the Colleges' Legal Fund and noted it's tenacity and perseverance.
 
LEAF is a much more advanced version.
 
HOW WILL LEAF DIFFER?
 
LEAF will not be littered with committee structures that are costly and can stifle effective action. We want LEAF to be pro-active rather than reactive. If we are to provide a professional service to the Lecturer, we must be able to organise our affairs and actions in a professional manner. This means that we must keep sight of our principal objective.
 
We cannot allow ourselves to be diverted from that task or to suffer the 'creeping paralysis of leadership', that results from internal conflicts.
 
All of the evidence suggests, that this will be a beneficial different

Our principal purpose will be to protect the member's employment rights and advance the status of the profession.

We have no intention of being diverted from that task. Our energies and finance will not be consumed by the peripheral interests or 'hobbyhorses' of others. The matters that confront Lecturers are far too serious.An effective yet 'minimalist ' approach will be adopted by LEAF.

WHAT ABOUT PHYSICAL RESOURCES?

Our intention will be to keep the administrative costs of LEAF to an absolute minimum. In our view, an expensive office block in some city centre is a luxury that cannot be justified.

LEAF will not need an 'ivory tower' from which to operate.
Our experience in running the Colleges' Legal Fund has taught us that the intelligent use of available technology is the most cost effective means of organisational administration. We intend to build on that experience.
 
Cost effectiveness will therefore be translated into a higher standard of service quality and the member will benefit from that. Communication channels will be direct and coherent.
 
You will not be required to run the gauntlet of 'officials' to get an answer to your query.
 
WILL LEAF BE RECOGNISED?
LEAF as a registered trades union will seek full recognition. We will, however, also seek to ensure that we are recognised for our strengths not our weaknesses.
 
The current government plans to introduce legislation in the near future, which will remove the opportunity of employers to recognise 'sweetheart unions', by making recognition compulsory where sufficient numbers of workers are in membership of the trade union concerned.
© LEAF 2002