Matthew Cotter
Last Monday, members of Nottingham Citizens waited in vain as Nottingham Forest CEO Dane Murphy was a no-show for their meeting to discuss Forest adopting the Real Living Wage for all staff members. The group had presented Murphy with a cake iced ‘Top Teams Pay the Living Wage’, whilst the American chose to remain in his office. Matthew Cotter tells us more.
Murphy, who had a brief footballing career in both the US and Germany, was appointed as CEO this July following a two-year stint with Barnsley. Whilst his decision to sack manager Chris Hughton has seemingly saved Forest from a catastrophic season, it is his choices outside of football that are raising concerns.
Currently, Nottingham Forest are falling short of paying their non-playing staff the Real Living Wage, currently estimated at £9.50 an hour. Other Championship clubs such as Luton Town have long adopted the wage, but for many of the Red’s staff, minimum wage is the maximum they can expect.
their campaign for the Living Wage began in 2001 and to date has won over £1.3 billion of additional wages
Nottingham Citizens are an alliance of 36 organisations across schools, universities, trade unions and charities. They seek to tackle injustice in the local Nottingham community. In particular, they have made it their goal to push organisations towards adopting the real living wage, as well as combating hate crime and mental health concerns.
Their campaign for the Living Wage began in 2001 and to date has won over £1.3 billion of additional wages, lifting over 260,000 people out of working poverty. The Nottingham Forest campaign is their latest effort and has been backed by some of the City’s leading figures. A letter, addressed to Mr Murphy, has been signed by all three of Nottingham’s MPs (Lillian Greenwood, Alex Norris and Nadia Whittome).
we feel disrespected that he chose not to come and hear our cause
University of Nottingham Politics and International Relations Student Anna Bulcock has been working with Nottingham Citizens on the project. After Murphy’s no-show last Monday she said “Overall, everyone at Nottingham Citizens were very disappointed. We feel disrespected that he chose not to come and hear our cause”.
The next step in Nottingham Citizen’s campaign is to engage with the fans to encourage their support for the Living Wage at their club. The group is set to stage a public action at Forest’s home game against Luton Town on the 23rd of November. They are hoping to spread awareness of the issue and to have an open discussion with supporters who may want to express their feelings on the situation.
Until the 23rd however, the group are calling for any Nottingham Forest supporters or University students who would like to get involved to contact them and assist the campaign.
They can be contacted in a variety of ways:
Twitter: @NottinghamCitz
Instagram: @nottinghamcitizens
Facebook: Nottingham Citizens
Matthew Cotter
Featured image courtesy of Anna Bulcock. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 1 courtesy of @officialnffc via @instagram.com. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 2 courtesy of Anna Bulcock. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
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