Fighting Fund: with thanks
Update: Dr Austin's dismissal has been settled under Unfair Dismissal legislation in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission after RMIT management, despite claims that it awaited resolution there, blocked a hearing under the EBA (see Unfair Dismissal: settlement, below). The DOU Fighting Fund which helped defray the legal costs for the case has now been closed. A Solidarity Fiesta/Fundraiser in April raised around $800: see
here.
Unfair Dismissal: settlement
The dispute over the Murdoch press-driven political dismissal of Dr Austin from RMIT this year has been settled under the Unfair Dismissal legislation of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. The terms are confidential. Background information and space for comments will remain here; a video-documentary is planned for release this month.
The limited but concrete gains in this dispute graphically demonstrate that decent-minded and committed supporters of public higher education, working together, can influence the political struggle to reclaim our universities as open democratic spaces, where full student participation and intellectual diversity overcome the ignorance, fear and conformism promoted by the mainstream press, multinational capital and neocon managements. An unpublished GLW interview backgrounds the case brought by the DOU committee against RMIT: see
here.
An updated summary of events surrounding Dr Austin's dismissal is available at Chronology II FIN 03 06.pdf
