Irish Federation of University Teachers » Workload Models

IFUT Executive recommends rejection of government proposals

admin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:47:39 +0000

The Executive of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has decided unanimously to recommend rejection of the government’s proposed agreement with the trade unions on pay and conditions.

“While recognising that there are some positives in the proposed agreement, the offer of a blank cheque for the renegotiation of staff contracts, with fundamental and far reaching implications for educational standards, is simply not acceptable,” IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings, stated.

The Executive of IFUT also decided that the conditions of employment of its members will not be subject to aggregated vote by other unions on the proposed agreement and reserved the right to make whatever decisions are necessary if members’ jobs and conditions are put in jeopardy.

The matter will be put to a full ballot of the union’s members following its Annual Delegate Conference on 24 April next.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

IFUT to sanction withdrawal of productivity in event of pay cuts

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:19:05 +0000

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.

IFUT recommends “Yes” on pay but reserves right to invoke review clause

admin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:21:44 +0000

IFUT has “with reluctance” recommended a “Yes” vote by its members to the new national pay agreement. A meeting of the organisation’s Executive in Dublin on Saturday (4 October) voted in favour of the deal, in view of the importance of providing certainty for education and students as well as the broader economy in the current critical economic climate.

“In recent years university teachers and researchers have offered very considerable flexibility in accepting ever greater workloads. The issue of pay will be reviewed again in the context of allocations to Education in the forthcoming Budget and the pressure under which our members are expected to do their job,” IFUT General Secretary, Mike Jennings, said.

IFUT will use the clause of the agreement which provides for a total review of the benchmarking process as a mechanism to pursue productivity claims in recognition of the massive additional workload taken on by university staff over the past decade, he says.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.