Delegates attending IFUT’s Annual Delegate Conference this Saturday, May 16th, will debate an emergency motion that could pave the way for industrial action across the higher education sector over the continued failure to address precarious employment and insecure work in Irish universities.
The motion, proposed by the IFUT Executive Committee, criticises what the union describes as the failure of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and university employers to engage meaningfully with unions under the Local Bargaining provisions of the Public Sector Agreement 2024–2026.
The motion states that the union should utilise “all options available to us, up to and including industrial action” if reasonable measures are not agreed to tackle precarious employment in higher education.
The dispute centres on efforts by IFUT, supported by SIPTU and Unite, to secure reforms aimed at improving conditions for thousands of university staff, including hourly-paid lecturers, researchers and other precariously employed workers.
The union has sought agreement on measures including:
- a conversion scheme for hourly paid teaching staff
- the ending of term-time only contracts
- improvements to research salary scales
- a common approach to Teaching Fellows
- increased and standardised exam marking fees
- a review of existing precarious employment arrangements
IFUT says the Local Bargaining mechanism, agreed as part of the current Public Sector Agreement, has been frustrated by delays, refusals to engage and a lack of transparency from the employer and government side.
Speaking ahead of the conference, IFUT Deputy General Secretary Miriam Hamilton said the continued failure to address insecurity in the sector was becoming unsustainable.
“Thousands of academic and research staff continue to work in deeply insecure conditions despite repeated commitments to tackle precarious employment in higher education. The Local Bargaining provisions of the current public sector agreement were intended to provide a mechanism to address these longstanding issues. Unfortunately, meaningful progress has been obstructed at every stage.”
“The union has acted in good faith throughout this process. However, patience among members is wearing extremely thin.”
The emergency motion notes that IFUT members had specifically mandated the union to use the Local Bargaining provisions of the national agreement to advance recommendations contained in the union’s Report on Precarious Employment in Higher Education.
The motion will be debated at IFUT’s Annual Delegate Conference this Saturday.