Shamus and Roseanna McPhee
Tribunal setback for Gypsy Travellers
By Colin Turbett
Scotland’s forgotten oppressed minority – the Gypsy Traveller community, have been dealt a blow with the finding of a recent Employment tribunal in Aberdeen.
Ken McLennan, a non Traveller, who worked for the Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project (GTEIP), was sacked last year. Ken took the GTEIP to a tribunal on the basis that he had been dismissed for activities that had upset some of the funders of the project, but which was in the interests of this ethnic minority.
The nub of his argument was that Gypsy Travellers were a recognised ethnic minority. The GTEIP, who claim to campaign for Gypsy Travellers, took the extraordinary step of arguing that as this had never been tested in a Scottish Court they had no case to answer. In other words their dismissal of Ken was legitimate because Gypsy Travellers are not an ethnic minority and should enjoy no special protection, unlike their fellows in England , Wales and Ireland.
The Employment Judge, Nicol Hosie, then considered old dictionary definitions of Travellers and Gypsies and concluded that Scottish Travellers were not of Romany origin and agreed that they were not therefore an ethnic minority who should enjoy protection under anti discriminatory race relations law.
Until now everyone concerned with Scottish Gypsy Travellers, whether in the Scottish Parliament, or the Commission for Racial Equality, have argued publicly that Scottish Gypsy Travellers were of the same ethnic origin as other Travellers in the UK. All that was necessary was a test case to put this through the Scottish Legal System, and establish it once and for all. Whilst this would in itself not end centuries of prejudice it would at least make it easier to challenge modern day discrimination.
Said Gypsy Traveller activist Roseanna McPhee from Bobbin Mill site in Pitlochry:
“This has got to be challenged, and as quickly as possible. There are reasons why after 13 years on the supply list, I cannot get a job as a Gaelic teacher. I know what they are and they are based in discrimination pure and simple. I am not popular because I have spoken out, and I have suffered for it.”
Her brother Shamus, who is faced with Sheriff Officer action over an unpaid Council Tax bill is also in no doubt about the realities of the racial prejudice he faces daily: “They want thousands from me for Council Tax. This is meant to be payment for services but until now we have had none on this site – not even the basics of water and electricity.”
Although the SNP Government in Holyrood seem to have no interest in Gypsy Travellers and have dropped the momentum, backed by the SSP MSPs, which began in the last Parliament, pressure must be placed on them to look at this again. If not then the bigots such as Central Ayrshire Labour MP Brian Donohoe, who would almost outlaw the mobile lifestyle, will only be encouraged.
Scottish Gypsy Travellers win recognition
by Colin Turbett
Scottish Gypsy Travellers are celebrating the recent judgement by Nicol Hosie at an Aberdeen Employment Tribunal in the case of Ken MacLennan, a non Gypsy Traveller who was dismissed last year by the Aberdeen based Gypsy Traveller Education & Information Project GTEIP).
A preliminary hearing early in 2008 ruled that Ken's submission that his activities in defending the interests of Gypsy Travellers, were protected under race relations legislation, which his employer had objected to, were not protected as Scottish Gypsy Travellers were not an ethnic minority.
The GTEIP had produced evidence to this effect at the earlier hearing, but, under pressure from the Government's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), did not defend this position when Ken successfully won the right to the review which was held in September.
After initial apathy the EHRC had been pressured into this position by Gypsy Travellers, who held an impromptu public protest with SSP support, outside their Glasgow offices (above).
At the Employment Tribunal Review, the results of which were published to little fanfare in late October, Nicol Hosie about turned on his earlier decision thanks to a massive amount of evidence produced on Mr MacLennan's behalf, by Shamus and Roseanna McPhee, members of the Scottish Gypsy Traveller Law Reform Coalition (SGTLRC), backed up by Dr Colin Clark from Strathclyde University.
This involved historical research put together by the McPhees, brother and sister from Bobbin Mill site in Pitlochry.
Hosie commended the quality of their evidence which covered matters of shared common history, language and culture which met the criteria for separate ethnic identity established by other landmark rulings in UK Courts, but as yet unproven in the Scottish court system.
Ken MacLennan's case against dismissal will now proceed to a full hearing in the New Year.
Said Roseanna McPhee:
"This ruling marks a significant step in the right direction in our struggle to achieve full recognition and legal protection in Scotland. The earlier hearing decision was followed by an increase in harrassment of members of our community, and this judgment takes us back to where we were but with some added strength to our case. Meanwhile discrimination continues as does our fight for law reform. In Italy the persecution of the Roma people is open and enjoys legal backing under Berlusconi, but in Scotland it is hidden from view but often just as vicious."
Members of the SGTLRC will be travelling down to Manchester later this month where a film about the plight of Scotland's Gypsy Travellers, which focuses on the McPhees, has been shortlisted for a prize at the Exposures student film festival. The film, entitled "The Forgotten Experiment", made by final year film and media students from Stirling University can be viewed here : .
The film will be shown all week at the festival alongside other short films in a series entitled "Distant Voices, Still Lives" which looks at the plight of minorities from various parts of the world.
Said Shamus McPhee:
"The students followed us around for several weeks in the Spring of this year, and we were impressed with their determination to allow us to tell our own story. We feel their efforts deserve a wide audience and we hope they get the recognition they deserve at Exposures."
Mr K MacLennan v Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project S/13272/07 f599/132
Location: Case TypesEmployment
Posted by: Fiona Davidson 16/07/2008 19:25
A ruling that Scottish gypsy travellers are not a separate ethnic group under the Race Relations Act is to be reconsidered by an employment tribunal.
An Aberdeen tribunal ruled earlier this year that a complaint of victimisation was not allowed as anti-discrimination laws to prevent racial bias did not extend to Scottish gypsy travellers as they were not a separate ethnic group.
Kenneth MacLennan had complained of racial discrimination, alleging he was victimised under the Race Relations Act by being dismissed for ''taking a stance on behalf of gypsy travellers''.
Mr MacLennan was employed as strategic co-ordinator with the Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project in Aberdeen until his dismissal in July last year.
He raised an employment tribunal action complaining of unfair dismissal and victimisation under the Race Relations Act. He advised the tribunal ''I believe..that I have been victimised for taking a stance in relation to Scottish Gypsies Travellers.''
Mr MacLennan said he suspected the reason for his dismissal could be the stance he took over the closure of Garlogie lay-by to Scottish travellers and a child protection case involving a Scottish traveller. He said he could refute accusations that he had failed to ''network'' with other agencies. He further claimed certain public authorities had been non-compliant with current race relations legislation and believed they had been discriminating against gypsy travellers.
The Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project argued that Mr MacLennan could not claim under the Race Relations Act as Scottish gypsy travellers were not a protected group. Scottish gypsy travellers were not of Romany descent and were therefore not an ethnic group and could not enjoy the protection of the Race Relations Act, relying on Mandla (Sewa Singh) & Another v Dowell Lee & Others [1983} ICR 385 and Commission for Racial Equality v Dutton [1989] QB 783, that the word ‘’traveller’’ is not synonymous with the word ‘’gipsy’’.
Mr MacLennan responded ''All public bodies have accepted Scottish Gypsy Travellers as an ethnic group.'' He further pointed out that the aims and objectives of the Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project were to have Scottish gypsy travellers recognised as an ethnic group.
Employment judge Nicol Hosie had initially rejected Mr MacLennan's complaint, holding that the claim of discrimination by way of victimisation in terms of Section 2(1)(d) of the Race Relations Act 1976 had no reasonable prospect of success and it was struck out in terms of Rule 18(7)(b) of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004.
But he revoked that decision and the matter will now be heard with evidence being led before a full tribunal.
In his previous judgment, Tribunal judge Nicol Hosie said ‘’While there may be a body of opinion, that Scottish Gypsy Travellers, should be treated as an ethnic group and should enjoy the protection of the 1976 Act, there is no legislation, as yet, which affords them such protections. Although under the 1976 Act, (as amended in 2000) English Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are protected as ethnic groups Scottish Gypsy Travellers are not protected in the same way.’’
Referring to Dutton, he continued ‘’In short, the Court of Appeal made it clear that groups of travellers who did not share the common history of the Romany people, such as Scottish Gypsy Travellers, would not be an ethnic group.’’
However, as a result of the revocation, Mr MacLennan will therefore be able to lead evidence on whether his victimisation claim should be allowed to proceed or be struck out as it has no reasonable prospect of success.
Ken MacLennan: (on Dr. Pauline Nolan’s email list)
Scottish Gypsy-Travellers are now recognised legally as a distinctive ethnic group thanks, in no small part, to Dr Colin Clark.
Research and enterprise opportunities
Icame toStrathclyde in 2005 for a few reasons. I wanted to come back to Scotland and Glasgow in particular. The role was also a promotion to Senior Lecturer but most significantly, I was intrigued by the prospect of working with human geographers as well as sociologists.
What's been really good in the last couple of years is this collaboration has been extended from within the Department to between Faculties. Last year, with colleagues in Education and Business, we applied and received research enhancement funding to establish a research network on issues relating to migration and refugees.
My current research work is focused more on migration although Romani studies will always be important to me. Working at Strathclyde has definitely, for the better, impacted on the type of research I do and the way that I do it. It's much more collaborative here and feels like a collective process, which is a real pleasure.
Research impact
In 2008 I was called to give evidence to a panel of judges who were considering whether the Scottish Gypsy-Traveller community were entitled to the same legal protections as other ethnic minorities, as outlined by the Race Relations Act of 1976 (and amended in 2000).
For the past 15 years I've researched in the fields of ethnicity, racism and identity in relation to Roma, Gypsies and Travellers. I'm a social scientist with an interdisciplinary background; political science, sociology, anthropology and social policy.
When I was in court I tried to speak plainly and simply, speaking to the facts and stripping away the academic jargon around the often complex debates on ethnicity. I highlighted the evidence showing that such communities do have a 'legal' ethnicity, but where there were shortfalls in evidence I didn't try to hide them.
The tribunal determined that Scottish Gypsy-Travellers have 'ethnic origins' and therefore are protected by the Act. This status means they can now bring claims of racial discrimination before courts of law. In summing up Judge Nicol Hoise called me an impressive and persuasive witness, which was obviously satisfying.
I’d spoken with a colleague in Ireland before the case who had been through a similar process. He told me it would be the most important things I would ever be asked to do and he was right. I can't think of a bigger 'high' in terms of my professional working life - it just felt really rewarding to be involved.
Scottish Gypsies are distinct ethnic group, rules judge
Scottish gipsies are distinct ethnic group, rules judge
Scottish Gypsies have been recognised as a distinct ethnic group in a landmark legal ruling.
The move means that the travelling community is now entitled to the same legal protection as other ethnic minorities, as outlined by the Race Relations Act of 1976.
With their newly recognised status, they can bring claims of racial discrimination to employment tribunals, after an appeals tribunal in Aberdeen overturned a previous decision to the contrary.
Judge Nicol Hosie reconsidered the results of a previous hearing in March which found Scottish gipsies were not a distinct race.
The debate arose after Kenneth MacLennan, of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, claimed his employers at the Gypsy Traveller Education and Information Project (GTEIP) had dismissed him for “taking a stance on behalf of gipsy travellers”. Mr MacLennan worked for the organisation as a strategic co-ordinator until July last year.
The GTEIP argued that Mr MacLennan’s complaint should be dismissed, because Scottish travellers were not a separate race and so could not claim racial discrimination.
However, after hearing evidence from a selection of academics and travelling-community historians, Mr Hosie concluded that Scottish Gypsies were, in fact, a distinct ethnic community and must be treated as such under law.
Mr MacLennan’s individual case will be decided at a hearing early next year.
The judgment of the tribunal, referred to testimony from Dr Colin Clark, a senior lecturer at StrathclydeUniversity who has written extensively on the subject of ethnicity, racism and identity in relation to Roma Gypsies.
Dr Clark told the tribunal: “The origins of the Scottish Gypsy traveller population remain disputed, but they have their roots in a Celtic - and possibly pre-Celtic - nomad population in Scotland.
“Objectively, we can say that contemporary Scottish gipsy travellers in Scotland are part of a nomadic community that has endured for centuries throughout the whole of Scotland.
“There has been substantial Scottish gipsy traveller migration from Scotland and Britain since at least the period of the main Highland Clearances, if not before. In short, there is a long, shared history.”
He added: “It is clear that Scottish gipsy travellers have long had awareness of self-identity and of difference from the settled population in both Britain and within Scotland itself.”
The tribunal also heard evidence from siblings Shamus and Roseanna McPhee, both members of the Scottish gipsy community.
Mr McPhee, who was brought up in the Bobbin Mill Tinker Experiment - a site in Pitlochry granted for use to the travelling community in 1947 - pointed out that gipsies had been seen as a separate ethnic group during the Second World War, and were persecuted alongside the Jews.
Mr Hosie ruled: “Scottish Gypsy travellers have ethnic origins’, with reference in particular to the 1976 act, and they therefore enjoy the protection of the act.”
By CHRIS WATT
October 31st, 2008 |
Shamus McPhee with Colin Turbett
Scottish Traveller community marginalised
by Colin Turbett
Scratch beneath the surface of opinion in Scottish rural communities and you will very probably find attitudes that would make an apologist for apartheid in South Africa blush.
There is little doubt that Scotland’s Gypsy Traveller community remain marginalised and misunderstood, and that prejudice against them is rife. As with most racism and bigotry this has its roots are in official attitudes that continue to this day.
At the Bobbin Mill site in Pitlochry, Perthshire, two large extended families face yet another harsh winter in dilapidated accommodation with no amenities on a site described in a recent BBC report as ‘squalid’.
I spoke to Shamus McPhee by phone from the warmth and comfort of my home - Shamus meantime was wrapped up against the cold in a candlelit caravan he estimated to be worth £36. Perth and Kinross are charging him Band A Council Tax, even though they provide no amenities - the separate charge for water and sewerage was only dropped after persistent campaigning on the basis that these were not provided.
In 2006 the Scottish Parliament pledged £97,500 for the provision of a new chalet for Shamus’s father. Also part of the deal the SNP led Perth and Kinross Council were to provide an additional 25 per cent for a communal washing facility and provision of basic services: water, electricity and sewerage.
Nearly two years on and the Council are still at the planning stages for these amenities that are taken for granted elsewhere. Their argument that Bobbin Mill was an ‘unauthorised site’ cut little ice with the residents who had been placed there sixty years previously by the Council’s forebears, and this reason for lack of action seems to have been quietly dropped. Meantime with nowhere to wash his body and clothes properly Shamus found himself unable to get work and an unsympathetic Job Centre stopped his benefit for six months.
He found himself unable to pay his Council Tax and given the lack of progress with the promised upgrade, has felt reluctant to start since. Local MSP and government minister, the SNP’s John Swinney has not visited Bobbin Mill for many years and seems uninterested in the problems on the site.