Trinity’s PhD Workers’ Rights Group has launched a survey to highlight the needs of College’s PhD workers during the pandemic and beyond.
The survey, which was developed in collaboration with the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), will be used to advocate for greater support at the local and national level.
In a press statement, Thomas Dinneen, one of the founders of the PhD Workers’ Rights Group and a co-author of the survey, said: “PhD candidates have faced major disruptions to their research, income and welfare during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges of the pandemic are further compounded with the ongoing financial struggles of many PhD candidates who earn less than minimum wage with no entitlement to state supports.”
The group said that coronavirus restrictions represent a significant obstacle to PhD research projects across all College faculties, such as lack of access to College resources and restrictions on carrying out research. This has halted much of the research across campus over the past five months.
PhD workers are not eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and while some workers have been compensated by their school for loss of income, the level of compensation varies between schools.
Conor Reddy, a member of the group’s steering committee, added in a press statement: “The importance of recognising PhD students as workers with collective bargaining rights has been re-emphasised by our experience of the pandemic. Recognition would bring us closer to living incomes, greater credit for the work we do and crucially, access to state-supports that other workers enjoy.”
The survey marks the first major collaborative project between the PhD Workers’ Rights Group and the GSU. The PhD Workers’ Rights Group was formed in October 2019 and currently has more than 60 members.
The group secured a mandate at the GSU council in February of this year, with the full support of the union’s president Gisèle Scanlon.
