Irish Federation of University Teachers » NUIG

IFUT concerned about knock-on potential of any change in allowances

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:02:15 +0000

IFUT 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 General Secretary, Mike 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.

The full article from Industrial Relations News (Issue 30, 27 August 2009) is available here.

IFUT proposes unprecedented joint management-union response to education cuts

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:18:32 +0000

The General Secretary of IFUT, Mike Jennings, has called on university managements to work with IFUT and other employee representative bodies in the sector to present a strong and comprehensive response and resistance to the cuts proposed in last week’s McCarthy/An Bord Snip Nua Report.

“In view of the crisis now facing our sector, I am proposing that the Heads of Irish Universities and all those in senior management in education unite with IFUT and other employee bodies in education, to work together to defend the entire sector,” Mr Jennings said.

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here.

IFUT reponse to “An Bord Snip Nua” report

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:49:43 +0000

IFUT has issued a Press Release in initial response to the report by “An Bord Snip Nua”.

“This report, and, in particular, the parts of it which relate to education, will come to be regarded as one of the most short-sighted documents in Irish education history. At a time when more and more people are turning to education as an intelligent, self-enhancing alternative to unemployment, how could any group of consultants recommend a total reduction of almost seven thousand jobs in education, two thousand of them in higher education alone?”

The IFUT Press Release is available is full here.

“An Bord Snip Nua” Report released

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:01:48 +0000

The Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, has today (16 July 2009) released the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes. The Group, popularly known as An Bord Snip Nua, which has sat for the last six months, was chaired by UCD Economist, Colm McCarthy.

The Press Statement announcing the release of the report is available here.

The report itself is in two volumes, Volume I and Volume II.

Access to the report on the IFUT Website is restricted to IFUT members only.

Publication of HEA Employment Control Framework

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:18:41 +0000

The HEA has published the Employment Control Framework for the Higher Education Sector.

This Framework was promised in the letter of 1 April from the HEA to the President/Provost of each of the seven Universities. This letter was sent in response to a letter from the Department of Finance to the Department of Education and Science in late March. In their letter, the HEA stated that “with effect from 27 March there should be no filling of vacancies by recruitment, promotion or the payment of an allowance for the performance of duties at a higher level, except possibly in the case of academic and support posts that are considered essential to maintaining core service activities”, pending the publication of the Framework arrangements.

The HEA Employment Control Framework document shall operate from 1 July. It is available here (Members only).

IFUT Lobbies Oireachtas Members on Universities Pensions Legislation

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:34:21 +0000

IFUT has written a briefing on the recently-published legislation on university pension funds. It has been sent to various members of the Oireachtas. The briefing is available here (Members only).

Pension fund legislation published

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:16:33 +0000

The legislation facilitating the transfer of the pension funds of the TCD, UCD, UCC, NUIG and NUIM pension schemes and the NUI General Scheme to the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) was published on Friday last, 12 June. The legislation is part of the Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2009 (Number 37 of 2009) and is available here (Members only). Part 3 (Sections 3 to 14) and Schedule 1 are the pieces of the Bill pertinent to the university (and other) pension funds.

The transfer of these pension funds has been under discussion for a number of years and legislation was promised in the last mini-Budget. It is IFUT’s understanding that the Government wishes to “fast-track” the bill and have it passed by the Oireachtas and signed into law before the end of June.

IFUT exposes more secret pay agreements

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:19:33 +0000

IFUT condemns the decision by the HEA not to disclose details of the exceptionally high salaries paid to almost twenty senior personnel in six of the seven universities under its remit.

Earlier this year, IFUT, using the Freedom of Information Act, exposed the secret salary levels paid to certain senior personnel in UCD. Now, by further use of the FOI Act, IFUT has established that there are small numbers of similar secret pay arrangements in all of the other six universities.

“The HEA has provided us with the names of all of those who have been awarded exceptionally high levels of pay”, said Mike Jennings, General Secretary of IFUT. “However, despite the fact that all of these salaries are paid from public funds, the HEA is stubbornly refusing to reveal the money amounts involved”.

The IFUT Press Release may be read in full here. The full list of the names of staff in receipt of the exceptionally high salaries is available here (IFUT members only).