ROISIN FARRELLY
One of the
main unions representing university lecturers has expressed some concern that
any abolition of allowances paid to academic staff in Irish Universities would
not apply to those allowances which staff are paid for performing extra
duties.
IFUT previously drew attention to allowances and rates
of pay paid to some academics under the so-called “Departures Framework”, which
was designed to attract high calibre academics to Irish Universities. IFUT has
been critical of the levels of remuneration paid to individuals under the scheme
which are outside of the normal salary scales.
The Framework, which was
agreed between the HEA and the universities, under the 1997 Universities Act,
allows appointments to be made in exceptional circumstances to the staff of a
university on a level of remuneration which is outside of the normal salary
scales within the sector. The scheme is only available to potential appointees
who are not existing members of the University staff and is not open to be
negotiated with existing staff as any form of recognition of outstanding
expertise/performance or on a retention basis.
Mike Jennings, general
secretary of IFUT, told IRN that the union was particularly concerned that the
Irish Universities Association was correctly adhering to the terms of the
Framework. He said that IFUT had continuously raised these issues with the HEA
over the last number of years but had received no response to date.
IRN
understands that there are currently three different categories of allowances
paid to academic staff; firstly, those paid under the Departures framework;
secondly, allowances which have an historic precedence; and finally, allowances
paid to staff based on the performance of addition duties (for example, head of
department allowance.)
In February, the HEA told IRN that it was carrying
out an investigation into what it said were unauthorised payments to senior
professors (See IRN
6/09). A spokesperson for the HEA said that pay scales for academics
were agreed in all universities and that any allowances paid on top of this have
to be approved and authorised by the Departments of Finance and Education.
According to the HEA spokesperson, there were a number of unauthorised
allowances being paid to professors.
Mr Jennings said that IFUT wanted
complete transparency in the payment of allowances and was critical of those
allowances which were not directly linked to the performance of extra duties.
However, he was clear that with regard to those “legitimate” allowances that
were paid to staff for taking on additional workloads, IFUT members would not be
performing such role if they were not paid the allowance.
