Irish Federation of University Teachers

IFUT has released an important policy document on the Government’s employment policy for Higher Education
The main points of the IFUT policy are:

The Government’s Employment Policy for the Higher Education Sector is Illegal
The Government’s Policy is Politically Stupid
The Government’s Policy is Contradictory and Unworkable
The Minister’s Policy Will Lead to Higher Drop-out Rates
The Minister’s Policy is Anti-Democratic
IFUT [...]

IFUT has written to the European Commission to complain about a Labour Court decision affecting one of its members.
It is calling on the Commission to investigate Ireland’s non-compliance with the fixed term workers directive, and Fixed Term Workers Act, 2003, the statute examined by the Labour Court in the run-up to its decision.
The 2003 Act [...]

In a letter to the editor of The Irish Times and published on 4 September 2009, IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings, writes:
“We impose financial charges (for example for refuse collection, water supply, etc) as an instrument to discourage usage. Yet we are expected to suspend our disbelief when the Minister for Education says that re-imposing [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

At its meeting yesterday, Wednesday, 25 March, the National Executive of IFUT decided, in line with the decision of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, to advise all IFUT members to work normally on Monday next, 30 March 2009.
The General Secretary, Mike Jennings, has written to all members with an update. The General Secretary’s letter [...]

IFUT members have voted by a substantial majority to participate in the ICTU-organised National One-Day Work Stoppage scheduled for 30 March 2009.
The General Secretary, Mike Jennings, said that the ballot represents “the reluctant determination of IFUT members to register the strongest possible protest against the Government’s handling of the economic crisis”.
The ballot was counted today [...]