Defend Hamish Murphy

Hamish Murphy, Principal Lecturer in Youth and Community work at Glyndwr University and a supporter of our Campaign has been dismissed because of his trade union activities.

A Facebook, Support and Defend Hamish Murphy has been created to support his appeal for reinstatement. It tells us:

Hamish Murphy, Principal Lecturer in Youth & Community Studies at
Glyndwr University has been dismissed for his trade union activities.
Please support the call for his immediate reinstatement. Hamish has
been a youth worker for over 35 years, mostly in Edinburgh but more
recently in Wrexham as a volunteer and committee chair within his
village youth club. He has been a detached youth worker, managing one
street-work project and chairing another city-wide one. He has been a
volunteer in a drop-in centre, run a youth information project,
initiated a drug support agency and created a youth homelessness
project. He has been a community centre manager, an adventure
playground worker and a community education services manager. Hamish
has written widely about youth work, including editing the book
Conceptualising Youth Work, and is currently working on a new book on
Youth Rights and Age Discrimination. Coming to Glyndŵr University in
1999, Hamish has lectured in Scotland, Wales and China and is an
external examiner in England. He has also undertaken consultancy work
with local authorities, voluntary organisations and trade unions
across the UK. His expertise rests in work with young people, recently
specialising in its international forms though he has also been active
in ‘anti-poverty’, ‘age discrimination’ and ‘professional education’
research.

We are being asked to e-mail Professor Mike Scott at
m.scott@glyndwr.ac.uk to express our concern and argue for his
reinstatement.

In addition the UCU has issued the following statement, which is to be found below. As things stand it appears that Hamish’s appeal is yet to be heard. Further action in support of Hamish is being planned for the coming weeks – particularly around graduation day. He continues to need our solidarity in these authoritarian times.

STATEMENT to Branch Members from UCU Wales Support Official 14th
October 2009

I can confirm that Hamish Murphy was dismissed by Helen James on
Wednesday the 5th October on the authority of the Vice-Chancellor.
Helen James stated at the beginning of the hearing that Hamish Murphy
was there in his capacity as UCU Branch Chair. I can confirm that I
believe he was sacked because of his trade union activities.

Hamish Murphy was dismissed for the part he played in producing the
UCU March issue of the UCU branch newsletter Hamish was clearly
relaying concerns expressed by members and acting in what he believed
to be the best interests of the members when he distributed the
newsletter. Hamish has never been accused of any wrongdoing as a
lecturer in Youth & Community studies and I can confirm that his
dismissal had nothing to do with his role as a lecturer.

He was accused and found guilty of the following three offences:
- Bringing the University into disrepute;
- Damaging the relationship of trust and confidence between himself
and
the University;
and
- Raising false accusations against colleagues.

These allegations refer mainly to the distribution of the March 2009
UCU  Branch Newsletter. There was also an issue raised about allegations made in what Hamish had intended to be a protected disclosure under the Universities Public Information Disclosure Policy. Hamish relayed the complaint on behalf of a number of members in a more specific way to the University soon after the newsletter came out.

We are currently taking legal advice to assist us with the appeal.

Unfortunately I cannot say any more at this stage as would not want
anything to prejudice our chances of success at the appeal and any
subsequent tribunal proceedings.

I would urge members to support the campaign to reinstate Hamish in
any way you can.

Phil Markham
UCU Wales Support Official

The winter of discontent is closing in and it is no coincidence that the bureaucracy in Higher Education is keen to strangle debate and dissidence.

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!

Struggling to Defend Jobs and Services

Parents have seized control of the closure threatened Wyndford Primary and St. Gregory’s Primary Wyndford in the Maryhill area of Glasgow. There’s been little or no coverage in the media. From inside the building the parents have issued the following letter:

We are parents from Wyndford and St Gregory’s Primary Schools and we
believe our children haven’t had a fair deal.

The Council are wanting to close 13 primary schools and 12 nurseries
in Glasgow.  None of these have had a fair consultation.

These closures will destroy communities, risk children’s education and safety.

The consultation is a complete and utter farce, for example the
Council forgot that Ruchill Primary had an autism unit, and claimed
that Wyndford had a swimming pool, but there have been too many
mistakes to mention them all.

Visit us at Wyndford Primary, and St Gregory’s, 116 Glenfinnan Drive,
behind Tesco’s in Maryhill.

Please show your support for our occupation.  Your school or workplace
could be next.

Messages of support to 07770806270 and visit http://www.burghangel.org.uk

Further South in Liverpool students at the Liverpool John Moores University are fighting the closure of the Youth and Community Work course.

Youth work – Students hit back over axed course

Children & Young People Now
2 April 2009

The decision by a Liverpool university to cut its youth work course could have serious repercussions. Janaki Mahadevan reports.

‘THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE FOR YOUTH WORK IN LIVERPOOL’

Students on Liverpool John Moores University’s youth and community work course are fighting the decision to drop the subject.

One spokeswoman for the student body, who wants to remain anonymous, says: “The importance, value and quality of youth work is great in Liverpool. It is an invaluable part of the community, helping to counteract issues such as gang violence. There will be no future for youth work in Liverpool once this course is gone.”

In a meeting with the dean of the faculty of health and applied social sciences, students say they were told the course was underperforming and had a low completion rate.

But the spokeswoman says even though students may not get as many 1st or 2:1 grades as those on other courses, they were able to prove their commitment to the field through their practical skills and ability. She says the argument undermines the hard work of those achieving 2:2 grades despite not having academic backgrounds.

Credit for photo to Arlen Connely and full report at  Children and Young People Now

Defending Democratic and Emancipatory Youth Work

The In Defence of Youth Work initiative was set in motion in late February with the circulation of  the Open Letter. This missive argued that the implosion of neo-liberalism, the so-called credit crunch, opened up perhaps an opportunity to question afresh the state of Youth Work today. There has been a supportive and widespread response to the thrust of the argument, which can be read in detail on the discrete page.

At the Youth & Policy History of Youth and Community conference in Durham {March 6-8}, a group of  those attending agreed to organise in the coming months regional meetings to explore ‘where things are up to and how we might move forward’. This meeting of minds and hearts was not just stimulated by the Open Letter, but also through a challenging workshop led by workers from North Tyneside.

This Blog will seek to keep everyone interested abreast of what is happening; will continue to welcome signatories to the Letter;  will be a place where critical dialogue can continue and prosper; and will report on wider struggles to defend and extend the existence of  democratic and emancipatory education.

Additional Points, March 31:

• After some discussion about the process of signing up to the Letter, we’re sticking with the recommendation that supporters contact Tony directly at tonymtaylor@gmail.com

This method allows us to build a list of e-mail contacts, which will facilitate the circulation of information about for instance the forthcoming regional meetings. Obviously we will check out with people if they are happy for their addresses to be shared.  In doing it this way we apologise to Mike at the Late Breakfast Society for failing to rise to his effort to drag us into the present century

• As we move forward we’ve contacted both the major unions representing youth workers, the Community and Youth Workers Union [UNITE] and UNISON. We’re pleased to say that Doug Nicholls, the General Secretary of CYWU has been very positive about the In Defence initiative, whilst Tim Price is pursuing a response from UNISON’s National Committee. In waxing lyrical about Defence we need to be aware of immediate attacks at a local level on jobs and services, witness the present situation in Coventry – see http://cywu.org.uk
• It is becoming clear that to move things forward we need to identify people, who would be happy to be regarded as a sort of regional coordinator. Again please contact Tony if you think you’ve the energy and a sliver of time. He can still do the major share of administrative tasks.

It is time to rally round together against the instrumental and behavioural agenda imposed upon Youth Work particularly in the last decade. As the classic slogan goes, it is once more a time to ‘Educate, Agitate and Organise’.