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 [...]
In a joint statement today, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) rejected as ‘misleading’ and ‘flawed’ the findings of an ESRI survey on a pay differential between public and private higher education staff.
The latest ESRI figures on a public and private pay differential between higher education staff are [...]
Monday, 5 October 2009 is World Teachers’ Day. World Teachers’ Day, held annually on 5 October since 1994, commemorates the anniversary of the signing in 1966 of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers. It is an occasion to celebrate the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels and [...]
The IFUT Badge was formally launched at a reception in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin on Friday, 2 October 2009.
The launch was attended by IFUT President, Hugh Gibbons, the General Secretary, Mike Jennings, members of the IFUT Executive and IFUT Council and a number of past Presidents.
Photographs from the event will be available shortly.
ASTI, IFUT, INTO and TUI have declared their total opposition to cuts in the pay of their members. Such cuts are totally unacceptable and will be resisted.
The General Secretaries and Presidents of the four Teacher Unions issued a Joint Statement after their meeting today (Tuesday, 22 September 2009). “We want to send a crystal clear [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]