Please share and print off this poster ahead of the demo next week! Put it everywhere; in colleges, in workplaces, in shops, anywhere you think a newly qualified worker might be!
See you at the demonstration at Dail Eireann, Dublin, Friday March 21st, 1-2pm
An article in The Journal (National online “newspaper” in Ireland) about the proposed “new graduate” scheme for newly qualified social workers. Comments from The Social Work Action Network Galway included, along with details of the upcoming national demonstration being organised by SWAN Ireland.
Link: http://www.thejournal.ie/student-social-workers-1346047-Mar2014/
The next SWAN Dublin monthly meeting is on March 13th at 7pm. Please see poster for full details.
We welcome the setting up of the new Child and Family Agency. However, the chief executive of the Child and Family Agency has stated that a new ‘graduate placement scheme’ will ‘see young graduates in social work departments honing their skills in order that they fully understand the complex challenges facing families before they eventually join the workforce’ (The Irish Times, 30 Jan 2014). Significantly, those participating in the ‘scheme’ will placed on a salary below that of starting salaries negotiated, by the trade unions, with the government over a number of years. We, therefore, condemn the plan to set up a so-called ‘graduate placement scheme’ because it:
We, therefore:
Queries to: socialworkactionnetworkireland@gmail.com
We, therefore, condemn the plan to set up a so-called ‘graduate placement scheme’ because it:
We demand, therefore:
The Child and Family Agency to immediately withdraw this ill-thought out plan to set up a ‘graduate placement scheme’ which fails to recognise the existing terms and condition of employment within the sector. In this context, we also call on our trade unions, social work education institutions, CORU and service user organisations to seek the immediate abandonment of this plan.
Ends.
SWAN North East have extended their deadline for proposals for papers, workshops and presentations for this year’s national SWAN conference. Please download the full call for papers at the link below. Please send proposals to swannortheast@gmail.com by 28th February 2014! You can find out more about the conference and make a booking at the following link: https://www.dur.ac.uk/conference.booking/details/?id=259
We are placing a call out to you to get in touch and to come forward to be on the committee. Being on the committee is not intended to be extremely time-comsuming. It is envisaged that most of the interactions of the steering committee will be through email and tele-conference’s. A once or twice yearly face-to-face meeting would take place also.
The aim of the All-Ireland steering committee would be to ensure co-ordination of the regional and local groups, to ensure information about the network’s work is disseminated to as wide an audience as possible and to ensure support can be mobilised quickly to local groups when the occasion arises.
To that end we are asking for people to put themselves forward for the committee as soon as possible. A face-to-face meeting will then be arranged for the beginning of March.
We look forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, queries or comments please don’t hesitate to email: socialworkactionnetworkireland@gmail.com.
Kerry
SWAN Ireland member
This publication was put together as a sharp and swift response to his speech discussing child protection to the NSPCC on the 12th November 2013, in which Gove repeated some familiar right-wing themes in his ‘considerations’ on social work. In particular Gove attacked social work education and practitioners who hold a strong social justice analysis and motivation at the centre of their work. This SWAN publication answers him back comprehensively.
The cover price of the pamphlet is £3 – please download the order form below. Individual copies will shortly be available from bookmarksbookshop.co.uk
SWAN will also be holding regional launches for this pamphlet in the UK – keep checking this page for details.
As a social worker, a social work trainer and specialist on Disability and abuse whistle-blowing was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my career. ‘Whistle-blowing’ the report (The Kilcornan Report’) to the Irish Times in 2003 which described shocking living conditions in one residence for intellectually disabled people in the BOC institution resulted in my losing my job with the BOC (and another at a second Irish organisation who wanted to ‘Gag’ me with a contract not to go to the press…which I would not sign).
The next hardest thing was to read in the HSE document; the Mulvihill/Murphy Review (2006) that I behaved unprofessionally and that I had not shared any concerns to the BOC managers. This reported to Mulvihill and Murphy by a senior person within the BOC organisation. Fortunately for me I had written proof I had done so! But it was painfully distressing to have my reputation sullied in such a manner. I had always worked as a social work trainer and consultant out of deep love and respect for vulnerable people. Child and Adult protection within the disability field was a dedicated route I had chosen and almost single-handedly developed in the UK and Ireland as no-one else at that time was much interested in this side of protection work.
Even today the protection of disabled children and vulnerable adults is still not sufficiently recognised or dealt with. In Ireland there are no vulnerable adult policies in client protection. The abuse of disabled children is largely overlooked.
Today I feel ‘vindicated’. I was able to ‘call to account’ agencies who perpetrated grave injustice against a dedicated worker.
However are we further forward in our practice? There are no whistle-blowing policies that would protect staff. In a climate of austerity and recession will workers whistle-blow if they know they will be sacked for doing so? Could it be, staff will ‘keep quiet’ to protect their jobs?
Whistle-blowing is the ultimate ‘last call’ in the framework of ‘Client Protection’ but this is not yet acknowledged. Though I have to point out the last sentence in the letter of vindication the Brothers of Charity, HSE and HSE West did write:
“We accept that it is the right and obligation of staff to have recourse to raise concerns in the most appropriate forum and advocate for the rights of people with intellectual disability”.
This was an acknowledgement I requested and significantly, to their credit, they included this statement. It can now be, forever, a statement of permission to workers to ‘whistle-blow’. For surely as we do our work the ultimate is to protect vulnerable people from abuse, regardless of the implications to us. That’s a hard reality but if it’s not the ultimate challenge then we are colluders.
But I am still saddened, no angry, that despite the McCoy report (Nov 2007) and the Hynes report (2009) intellectually disabled Victims of Brothers of Charity (and other staff) have not been afforded the full scrutiny of a statutory inquiry. The McCoy report was deeply flawed and can only be described as a partial narrative account of sexual abuses perpetrated within the BOC against vulnerable children and adults. It failed to call to account and indeed in one part almost blamed the victims themselves by declaring the BOC had a difficult client group to care for.
Alan Shatter FG in opposition said on 13th December 2007 “I want an inquiry by the department…the report [McCoy] did not travel the distance and produce the comprehensive information it was required to do so”. Jan O’Sullivan on 29th June 2010 said “ outstanding issues need to be clarified with regard to what happened in Galway” saying at that time also “ the Hynes report is very disappointing and the issues raised by Margaret Kennedy are not dealt with in either it or the Mccoy report”. Kathleen Lynch also called for a statutory inquiry. Indeed all these key ministers now in power vociferously over this period called for a statutory inquiry, particularly Minister Alan Shatter. Once in power the issues were dropped like a stone and no more was said.
This is the only victim group not to be afforded a public statutory inquiry into abuse by a religious congregation. Why? Because they were intellectually impaired! I call again on these Ministers to do that which they were continually asking for. Institute a full statutory inquiry and give these victims the proper answers, calling to account and uncovering the facts. There are individuals still alive who need to be brought to justice for failings and/or abuse. The victims and their families still need answers and full understanding of ‘who, why, what’ happened.
I am vindicated as a professional but victims in the Brothers of Charity who were abused or mistreated have never been given full justice. This remains an appalling discrimination and a broken promise by three opposition TD’s now in power.
It has to be done.
The dispute, which has been running for several weeks, relates to the renewal of a new contract – the old one expired on the 30th September. The key issue is the question of workloads. Earlier this year in May, the employer was ordered by a court to reduce caseloads in the Compton office. The Union claim this court order was ignored. The Department of Children and Family Services has also been in the spotlight after the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in Palmdale who was tortured and beaten to death. His mother and her boyfriend were arrested and charged with his murder. Two DCFS social workers and two supervisors were sacked following the investigation after Fernandez’s death – again an all too common story to those of us in the UK.
As part of the build up to the strike the Union launched a legal action against the employer on the 5th November on the grounds that the county was failing to comply with a court order to reduce the case load of social workers to 31 each.
A month later, when there was still no agreement, the social workers went on strike mounting several large pickets and rallies around the county [2]. Millicent de Loro, one of the striking social workers on the picket line said “I’m here based on principle. Why do we do the job that we do? To work with families – to work with children. That’s why I’m here – not for the money” [3]
There were several large rallies mounted outside the offices of the County senior managers. Some offices were occupied for a short time. The mood was clearly resolute. Some of the strikers have adopted tactics of civil disobedience on the streets with hundreds of protesters occupying a road intersection between Hill and Temple streets in central LA. Seven protesters were arrested who had sat down on the road, 4 of them social workers, for ‘refusing to disperse’ a minor misdemeanour offence [4].
At the time of writing the strike has forced the County bosses back to the negotiating table on Wednesday the 11th December. There is an offer on the table of around a 6% pay increase, increasing health premiums and a $500 bonus in 2014 but the social workers will not settle without a reduction in caseloads (they are demanding the County recruit 35 more social workers a month for the next 17 months).
You can send messages of support to SEIU721 on Facebook and @SEIU721 twitter – SWAN sends international solidarity to all taking action in LA County and colleagues in SEIU.
[1] http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=9315331
[2] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151760720281570&set=vb.288369791569&type=2&theater
[3] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151760853876570
[4] http://ktla.com/2013/12/10/several-protesters-taken-into-custody-at-downtown-social-workers-rally/#ixzz2n7Q9lVKu
For more images video clips join the 721 Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/seiu721
Media coverage
http://cbsloc.al/J95TXM
http://www.seiu721.org/2013/12/we-have-la-countys-attention.php
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-strike-20131210,0,1448360.story#ixzz2n6ailz4w
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/06/los-angeles-social-worker-strike-excessive-child-abuse-cases
The plenary sessions at this year’s conference are:
– Building Critical Alliances, Mending the Gap in Social Work’
– Fighting for good practice in times of austerity
– History and future challenges for social work
This year’s conference will provide a forum for social work practitioners, academics, service users, students and activists to discuss:
– Defending good social work practice and promoting social justice-based approaches in times of austerity.
– The impact of austerity and development of alternatives.
– Building critical alliances in defence of social work and social justice.
– History of radicalism in social and community work.
– 10 years from the publication from the “Manifesto for a new engaged practice”: the emergence of new radicalism and future directions for the Social Work Action Network.
– Social movements and international social work.
– Developing a progressive pedagogy in social work education.
Please see the bottom of this article for a number of documents for download: draft programme, how to get to the conference, call for papers, seminars & workshops. 
In order to complete your online registration please click here. A flyer for the conference is downloadable at the foot of the page.
Conference fees for 2014 are:
£15 Students
£35 Waged
£65 Academics, trade union representatives
Free for service users and asylum seekers
Accommodation (not included in the registration fee):
(There is only a limited number of university provided accommodation in this price. Please book early to avoid disappointment) – £40 (single en suite)
Conference Dinner (not included in the registration fee) – £15
Should you have any queries regarding booking and accommodation, please contact conferenceadministration.service@durham.ac.uk
If you have any questions abouth the content and themes of the conference please contact Vasilios Ioakimidis vas.ioakimidis@durham.ac.uk
Please send you abstracts to swannortheast@gmail.com (for more infomation read the call for papers)
Ironically, Gove’s analysis is itself remarkably simplistic and lacks an appreciation of how students are equipped with a with number of theories, methods and skills to take into practice, alongside understandings and critiques of social problems at structural, cultural and interpersonal levels. More importantly the speech either misses or functions as a deliberate smokescreen to cloud the true problems affecting social work; reduced funding, low political priority, excessive caseloads and growing client demand. This week a letter signed by a number of social work academics – including many in SWAN – was published in the Guardian on Thursday 14th November to respond to Gove’s damaging comments. The text of the letter appears below:
It is heartening to hear Michael Gove acknowledge that his life was transformed through the skill of the social workers involved in placing him for adoption (Gove calls for radical reform of social work, 12 November). Like David Cameron’s recognition in his conference speech that social work is “a noble and demanding vocation”, Gove’s statement is in welcome contrast to the vilification of social workers in which politicians and the media too often indulge.
It’s difficult to escape the conclusion, however, that Gove’s praise amounts to little more than a cover for attacking the social science and ethical basis of the profession. He suggests, for example, that “idealistic students” are being encouraged to see service users as having been “disempowered by society” and as “victims of social injustice”. In fact, the promotion of agency, self-determination and independent living continue to be at the heart of social work education and social work practice, not least in relation to current personalisation agendas. Social work is an evidence-based profession, however. When highly respected research studies such as Wilkinson and Pickett’s The Spirit Level show the extent to which inequality contributes to social problems – and when even a former Conservative prime minister laments the lack of social mobility in the UK – then social workers need to recognise this in their practice. The alternative is the kind of victim-blaming and scapegoating of poor and disabled people that too often characterises current government attacks on people on benefits.
The main problem facing the social work profession at present is not dogma, but reduced funding, low political priority, excessive caseloads and growing client demand. When the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculates that austerity policies will push an extra 200,000 children below the poverty line, and when more than half a million people are forced to rely on food banks, then to suggest that social problems are primarily the result of people making “the wrong choices” underlines the extent to which the world inhabited by Gove and his public-school colleagues is a very different one from that inhabited by most of us, especially those needing social work support.
Professor Iain Ferguson University of the West of Scotland
Professor Susan White University of Birmingham
Emeritus Professor Ann Davis University of Birmingham
Professor Brid Featherstone Open University
Professor Vivienne Cree University of Edinburgh
Professor Nigel Parton University of Huddersfield
Professor Imogen Taylor University of Sussex
Professor Mike Fisher University of Bedfordshire
Professor Brigid Daniel University of Stirling
Professor Tim Kelly University of Dundee
Professor Ian Butler University of Bath
Emeritus professor John Harris University of Warwick
Professor Peter Beresford Brunel University
Professor Michael Lavalette Liverpool Hope University
Professor Stephen Webb Glasgow Caledonian University
Professor Jim Campbell Goldsmiths, University of London
Professor Ravinder Barn Royal Holloway, University of London
Professor Jane Tunstill Royal Holloway University
Professor Jonathan Scourfield University of Cardiff
Professor Margaret Holloway University of Hull
Professor Jonathan Parker Bournemouth University
Professor Aidan Worsley University of Central Lancashire
Professor Nigel Thomas University of Central Lancashire
Professor Hugh McLaughlin Manchester Metropolitan University
Professor Brian Littlechild University of Hertfordshire
Professor Kirsten Stalker University of Strathclyde
Professor Shula Ramon Anglia Ruskin University
Professor Nina Biehal University of York
Professor June Thoburn University of East Anglia
Professor Roger Evans Liverpool John Moores University
Professor Jan Horwath University of Sheffield
Professor Elaine Sharland University of Sussex
Professor Kate Wilson University of Nottingham
Professor Marion Brandon University of East Anglia
Dr Terry Murphy Teeside University
Mo McPhail Open University (Scotland)
Linda Walker University of Dundee
Mark Smith University of Edinburgh
Di Bailey Nottingham Trent University
Ailsa Stewart University of Strathclyde
Neil Quinn University of Strathclyde
Beth Weaver University of Strathclyde
Evelyn Vrouwenfelder University of Strathclyde
Barrie Levine Glasgow Caledonian University
Vasilios Ioakimidis University of Durham
Di Bailey Nottingham Trent University
Simon Cardy Advanced social work practitioner, Wolverhampton
SWAN is currently putting together a pamphlet entitled ‘Why Michael Gove is Wrong: In Defence of Social Work’ as a contribution to the present debate about social work and social work education. We hope that this will be available before the Christmas period – more news will appear on the SWAN website.
There is a small window of opportunity now to influence the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which will take over responsibility for this sector from April 2014. FCA is currently consulting on how it should regulate payday lenders.
A cross party group of MPs, along with major debt advice and consumer charities, is backing a charter, which will be sent to the Chief Executive of the FCA asking for much tougher regulation to stop these companies ripping people off.
If you haven’t done so already, please sign and pass on to friends and colleagues.