A shorter summer has become a key sticking point for academic staff in Trinity, with the prospect of an earlier return to teaching under a new year structure triggering demands for compensation from a College trade union.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) is seeking compensation for its members, arguing that the Trinity Education Project – a wholescale reform of the undergraduate curriculum – affects the terms and conditions of staff contracts, The University Times has learned.
Staff, particularly academic and teaching staff, will see the summer period shortened, forcing them to return to teaching and oversee supplemental exams two weeks earlier than normal this year, as the new academic year structure is introduced.
Unable to reach agreement after meetings with College so far, the three unions that represent the majority of staff in Trinity – IFUT, SIPTU and Unite – have submitted a request to the Workplace Relations Commission for it to mediate discussions so Trinity and the unions reach a resolution.
The options for compensation, or “co-operation allowance”, presented by IFUT to College are a €500 bonus benefit and five days of annual leave for all members. In a letter to Trinity’s HR department, seen by The University Times, the General Secretary of IFUT, Joan Donegan, said the union is seeking these options on an “once-off basis” and that members should be able to decide which option they would prefer.
Academic staff in Trinity do not have a designated number of annual-leave days, but instead must request time off from their head of school. The €500 tax-free bonus benefit is not a cash payment. Under the proposal, a staff member could put €500 on their TCard or an alternative non-cash benefit, in line with guidelines from the revenue commissioner. This means that approval would not be needed from the Department of Expenditure, which oversees and limits the amount higher education institutions pay staff.
Speaking to The University Times, the Chair of IFUT in Trinity, Dr John Walsh said that both options mean that College “management can’t hide behind the government, which happens from time to time”.
Walsh added: “We are hopeful of reaching agreement, there is plenty of time and we deliberately submitted the request to the [Workplace Relations Commission] early, to give plenty of time.”
“Obviously University Council and College Board have made the decision the interim academic year will go ahead but there is no agreement between the unions and college that staff will co-operate with it”, Walsh added. The changes to the summer period amounts “to a change in the terms and conditions of staff” contracts but “we want this resolved well in advance of repeat exams, that’s why we referred it to the Workplace Relations Commission”, Walsh said.
Walsh went on to say that it “would be premature to speculate what would happen in the absence of an agreement, but an agreement is required if our members are to co-operate with the interim academic year structure”.
“For the interim academic year structure to proceed smoothly and for a significant change like this to be managed effectively an agreement with the three unions is needed”, Walsh added.
Walsh said that members of the union in Trinity had raised concerns about the shorter summer including its impact on their research time and that the union had also received “feedback from heads of schools who wonder how they are to manage it when staff are potentially on leave because that is when people take leave”.
“It is a narration that has worked for the College as well in that staff take their holidays during the summer while students aren’t there.” Walsh added College Officers have been open to discussing the issues raised by staff.
The summer period is a key time for academics for progressing their research, and is one of the only parts of the year where academics can concentrate solely on it.
Normally, the academic year ends in June and begins in late September. However, the new structure will mean that the academic year will begin in early September and end in May. The summer period is shortened for 2018/19 only as College moves from the old structure to the new.
Walsh has said in the past that the claim for a once-off co-operation allowance was “to recognise the additional workload and additional commitment for academic staff because it has a much greater impact. It is not just the supplemental exams. It is all the assessments under the current proposals: all assessments have to be submitted before the 6th of September, before the new year starts and that means that the interim academic year structure has almost the same effect on undergrad courses as it has on postgrad courses”.
The request to the Workplace Relations Commission, seen by The University Times, was submitted by all three unions on February 12th, saying “that the proposed variation in the Academic Year have a significant import on the working patterns of our members”.
“We are therefore seeking that an urgent conciliation conference be convened to try and get a resolution to this issue, to all parties’ satisfaction”, the referral continues.
Walsh acknowledged that the Trinity Education Project was an “enormous task” and that the principles of the project “have been clear for a long time”, but added that “logistical and timetabling issues of [the project] have only become clear recently and that has brought a lot of issues to the fore”.
“If they’re not resolved, students will be the ones who suffer the most”, said Walsh.
The Trinity Education Project is a university-wide reimagining of how undergraduates are taught. The project, which has not been given a set budget, will see a new academic year implemented, exams at Christmas introduced and a reduced emphasis on end-of-term exams.
However, with less than five months left until September, Trinity’s academic staff are still grappling with the uncertainty of the Trinity Education Project and deadlines imposed by College management, all with a dawning realisation that it might be a while until they have all the answers.
