Irish Federation of University Teachers » DCU

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 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).