Commenting on remarks by the Chairman of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), John Hennessy, that changes to HR management practices would help improve the status and functioning of Irish universities, Mike Jennings, General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), said his remarks reveal the extent to which some persons in the HEA [...]
Contract staff employed by Irish universities now seem certain to have their redundancy settlements trebled on foot of important legal advances secured by IFUT.
In one case, a Researcher in NUI Maynooth has been awarded four weeks pay per year of service (pys) on top of her statutory entitlement (two weeks pys) by the Labour Court, [...]
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has welcomed the candour of the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority, who has warned higher education staff of plans to make fundamental changes to their contracts, to close courses in colleges and extend the academic year radically.
IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings warned that the HEA’s rôle [...]
A little respect for the stakeholders in the higher education sector and the avoidance of ’stunts’ and ‘cheap fixes’ will go a long way and will be reciprocated, the General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, Mike Jennings, told newly-appointed Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan, at the 2010 IFUT Annual Delegate Conference today [...]
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, [...]
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) have condemned the Government’s recruitment embargo in third-level institutes.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) demanded that, this year, all Higher Education institutes cut employment to 3 per cent below 2008 levels. The ban has affected the academic quality, as well as [...]
The Government’s recruitment squeeze of academic staff at third level is likely to face a legal challenge from the group which represents university lecturers.
The seven university presidents have also been considering a court challenge against the new Employment Control Framework which some maintain runs counter to the 1997 Universities Act, guaranteeing their independence.
While university presidents [...]
The Presidents and General Secretaries of the four teacher unions (ASTI, IFUT, INTO and TUI) met today (8 September 2009) to prepare a strategy against further attacks on the education system in the coming months.
All four unions are gravely concerned that cutbacks already in place are having a detrimental effect on the education system. Staffing [...]
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 [...]