Irish Federation of University Teachers

The seven Irish universities paid IBEC €874 083 between 2005 and 2008.

These contributions are in addition to the costs of substantial, well-staffed Human Resources Departments. In addition, it should be noted that the State, through the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court, provides a free service for the resolution of disputes between employers and employees.

Despite this duplication of costs, whereby universities employ substantial numbers of HR staff and then go on to pay IBEC ‘for advice’, the universities also routinely incur massive legal costs for the hire of lawyers to deal with employees.

“IFUT has expressed serious concern over recent years that universities are using needlessly expensive legal teams to deal with industrial relations matters. Not only does this involve huge avoidable cost to the university – money which could be better used elsewhere – but also, we believe, there is an element of trying to intimidate staff against raising grievances even of a relatively simple nature”, said Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here. The fees paid by the Universities to IBEC are available here.

The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has welcomed the government’s decision to consider access for retired workers to employment rights bodies.

Responding to a proposal by Labour Senator Brendan Ryan, Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary, said that he was “sympathetic” to retired people having “a facility whereby grievances arising from their former employment relationship might be examined on their merits”.

IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings, said the current situation “represents an unjust anomaly which has allowed unfair treatment of older employees to go uncorrected”. The anomaly arises because of a ruling 30 years ago by the then Attorney General that a retired person could not be regarded as a ‘worker’ and so could not bring a claim to the Labour Court.

“We welcome the Minister’s commitment to removing this anomaly, but it is important that his expressed sympathy for retired workers be converted into effective amending legislation without delay”, Mike Jennings said.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

The sudden announcement by the Minister for Education, Mr Batt O’Keefe, TD, of the abolition of the National University of Ireland (NUI) has been described as the latest example of ‘decisions without policy’ by the Minister, Mr Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary has said.

“The announcement occurred without due consultation and with a total lack of regard for the concerns of NUI staff, graduates and current students”, Mr Jennings said. “No assessment has been carried out on the impact the proposed abolition will have on the national and international status of NUI degrees and courses. This is all the more unacceptable given that the Minister has pre-empted the work of the Higher Education Strategy Group.”

Mr Jennings has called on the Minister, at a minimum, to enter into consultations with all stakeholders to clarify and resolve the issues outlined above before proceeding further with his proposal.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

IFUT has donated €2000 to assist relief efforts in Haiti, following the recent devastating earthquake there. The donation is being provided to a Fund co-ordinated by Education International, the World federation of teacher unions, and in full consultation with CNEH, IFUT’s sister teacher unions in Haiti.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

The General Secretaries and Presidents of the four teacher unions met this morning to consider the impact of the budget on teachers and their families and plan a response.

The leadership of the unions is determined to reflect the anger of teachers at the budget cuts to salaries and changes to pensions through a sustained campaign of opposition.

The four unions said the unilateral imposition of a pay cut in the budget was completely incompatible with social partnership, which in the view of the four teacher unions is now over.

All of the unions categorically rejected out of hand any suggestion that talks on a transformation agenda could continue. The unions said Government had its chance to talk last week but spurned the opportunity. “Those talks are over,” said a spokesperson. “They will not be restarted.”

The joint Press Release is available in full here.

In an initial reaction to today’s Budget, Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, has described the Government’s approach to education funding as one of “cut, cut and cut again”.

“Cut the pay of an already demoralised staff, cut staff numbers to the bone and cut the funds needed to replace creakingly inadequate infrastructure – that seems to be the Government’s only mantra.

“Not alone are wages being cut on reduced staff numbers at a time when ever-greater numbers of young people are seeking to better their employment opportunities through third-level education, the Government is ominously planning further cuts through what they term ‘non-pay efficiencies’”, Mr Jennings said.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

IFUT has declared that, if the Government cuts the pay of their members, then the Union will sanction an equivalent withdrawal of productivity.

“If they cut our pay, they can hardly expect us to continue working as though nothing had happened. I expect that IFUT members will disengage from non-core duties, particularly in the administrative area”, said Mike Jennings, General Secretary.

IFUT will also re-ballot its members to take part in any national or education sector-wide strikes in opposition to a pay cut for these members.

“At a time when there are more students than ever before in Higher Education, a combination of the drastic understaffing caused by the misguided staffing embargo and the collapse of morale caused by the cut of pay seems guaranteed to do untold damage to the education system just when so many more people need it”, said Mr. Jennings, who was speaking following a meeting of the National Executive at the weekend.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

The breakdown today of talks between the unions and government on public sector pay talks represents a failed opportunity to get our economy and society back on track, Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, has said.

“Government officials and trade unions negotiators had been achingly close to reaching an overall agreement which would have brought about an historic transformation of the public sector. By rejecting the deal, the Cabinet has returned us to the uncertainty and lack of direction that has plagued our economy and jobs market for over a year”, the General Secretary added.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

The announcement by the HEA that there are now students from 139 countries studying here only serves to illustrate the diversity of educational, social and cultural challenges faced by third-level institutions and staff in assisting these students to adapt and gain from their time here, Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, has said.

“It is immensely frustrating that neither the HEA nor the Minister for Education seem to have any idea of the extra time and commitment needed from higher education staff to try to assist overseas students and to ensure they get the full benefit from their time in Ireland.

“The fact that Irish universities, with 50% pro-rata funding compared to their counterparts in the UK, can attract such a number and diversity of overseas students is remarkable. However, the question must be asked: ‘How are these fully fee paying students not to be short-changed by a higher education system starved of funds, staff and resources?’”, Mr Jennings said.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

Universities are being subjected to the same market-based, profit-driven policies that caused the crisis in the financial markets and face an increasing risk of a crisis in academic standards and credibility, David Robinson, Associate Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), stated at the IFUT seminar in Dublin.

Mr Robinson warned that the drift in western countries towards commercialised universities and dubious quality providers must be resisted if universities are to preserve their function as reservoirs of research and innovation.

Danish speaker, Jens Vraa-Jensen, of Education International (EI), warned that universities cannot be managed according to market principles and at the same time fulfil their basic mission.

Mr Vraa-Jensen said: “The basic raison d’être for any private enterprise is to create profit for its owners. The purpose of a university is not profit but to spend money in the most appropriate way on teaching students and conducting research to develop the intellectual capacity of future generations and provide the society with new knowledge for future development and welfare”.

Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary, said: “Irish universities must not become the pawns of market forces and private speculators, who view education as just another source of profit and their students like customers in a supermarket”.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

Biographical notes of the speakers and outlines of the themes of their talks are available on our seminar page.