MEMBERS OF the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) at ATU Donegal will stage a lunchtime protest at the Letterkenny campus on Tuesday.
It’s one of a number of lunchtime protests being organised nationwide at Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology.
TUI members want to highlight what they say is the Department of Education’s failure to agree to a collective agreement on the establishment of the Technological University (TU) sector.
Protestors plan to gather between 1pm and 2pm at the front gate of the Letterkenny college.
Service to students won’t be affected.
The long running dispute goes back to 2017 when TUI members at third level voted in a national ballot to accept a collective agreement concerning the establishment of TUs.
The agreement provided for retention of the sector – previously the Institute of Technology sector and thenceforth the Technological University sector – and for prior meaningful communication, consultation and, where appropriate, negotiation with the TUI on relevant matters.
The TUI say that regrettably the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and management have not adhered to this collective agreement, “deliberately and consistently frustrating the proper functioning of the third level industrial relations fora”.
TUI has described the Department’s approach as an attempt to have each TU free to operate separately, without regard or recourse to national negotiation.
“This is a clear and wholly unacceptable breach of a collective agreement accepted in good faith by our members,” a union spokesperson said.
“The Union urges DFHERIS to engage meaningfully with us on these key issues. Should they continue to fail to do so, the Union already has a strong mandate for a campaign of industrial action, up to and including strike action, on this critical issue following a national ballot of members last month.”
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