The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is today holding a national day of protest against pay cuts in the public and private sectors, as well as cuts in public services.

The move marks the beginning of an ICTU campaign to fight any move to cut workers’ pay and pensions or to slash funding for public services. Several trade unions in the education sector are calling on workers to join a protest, starting at Parnell Square at 2:30pm.

Staff and students in UCD are assembling outside the Arts Block today at 1pm before heading into Trinity College to join up with other members of the Siptu education branch at 2:15pm.

• 1pm UCD Arts Block: students & students and staff meet up to head into Trinity College
• 2:15pm Trinity College: SIPTU Education Branch meets before heading to Parnell Square for the march.
• 2:30pm Parnell Square: The march kicks-off

FEE Maynooth will also be joining the demonstration.

The Neoliberal Restructuring of Education

Growth in the Irish economy during the Celtic Tiger was fueled by a manufacturing industry dominated by foreign direct investment up until 2001. Subsequent growth was largely the result of a property/construction boom up until the recent crash. The government now plans to move to a ‘knowledge economy’ based on indigenous innovators and entrepreneurs. As a part of this shift to a ‘knowedge economy’ – or a ‘smart economy ‘ as the government has renamed it -  is an intensification of the restructuring of higher education and the creation of a quasi-market across Europe for credentialised knowledge.

This process is not being driven by either students or staff; it’s driven by priorities shaped by the needs of the business sector in order to provide themselves with the academic research and skilled workers that they need to increase their profit margins. Making education subordinate to the market will lead to a reduction in funding for courses in arts, humanities and social sciences, as business involvement in education will result in the scrapping of subjects that aren’t seen as “profitable”.  Research in areas such as science and medicine run the risk of becoming distorted due to the source of funding. In 2006, UCDs Greary Institute recieved a grant of €1.5 million from the alcoholic beverage company Diageo. The grant was intended to fund a 3-year study of health risk behavior in relation to hazardous drinking among young adults (aged 18-25 years) in Ireland. The obvious conflict of interests was immaterial to the UCD authorities. According to the The Irish Times, “Mr Walsh [Diageos chief executive] said the issue was, for Diageo, a simple one. He said the company did not want problems with binge drinking to lead governments to place higher taxes on its products and thus eat into  revenues. The UCD research funding is thus the perfect example of “enlightened self- interest,” particularly in light of the taxes placed on alcopops over recent years” (The Irish Times, April 8, 2006).

The commericalisation of education been occurring across Europe under the guise of the ‘Bologna Process‘. The government aims to ‘position Ireland as a location of choice in the International Education market’. As a result, a marketing process has seen universities spend millions on improving the quality of their image and branding, rather than improving the quality of the education they provide, and the working conditions of their employees.

This restructuring of higher education can only be analysed as part of the broader economic and political process of neoliberalism. As a result of neoliberal policies, a common pattern has emerged in how public services as a whole are treated:

1. there is a systematic public underinvestment (relative to growth)
2. a shift to introduce/increase user charges
3. opening up of the public services to the involvement of private capital
4. attempts to undermine the pay & employment conditions of workers
5. new public managerialism – the importation of corporate governance structures into the public sector to create greater ‘efficencies’ by implementing work practices that border on Taylorism

Lack of Public investment

Although plans for the reintroduction of tuition fees have been temporarily shelved, the government still plans to continue its policy of shifting the burden of funding away from general taxation, and on to direct student contributions. The recent 67% hike in the registration fee now means that, despite a rhetorical commitment to ‘free’ education, Irish students pay more than students in several other European countries which have implemented tuition fees. If newspaper reports are to be believed, the government plans to introduce another hike in the registration fee, while imposing a cut of up to 10% in the maintenance grant. Of the €1500 ‘registration fee’, €600 already goes directly back into the state coffers.

Colleges themselves have begun to impose new service charges on students to help plug the gap in funding -  UCD has introduced charges for the student health service while UCC has introduced an extra conferring charge.

Since many local authorities currently lack adequate funding to make grant payments, a significant number of students have yet to receive any funding since the beginning of the college year. USI estimates that an average of 50 students per week are dropping out of education as a result. Many students are forced to enter into debt to cover the cost, while those who can manage to find  work often end up in the low-paid, non-unionised service sector. Several studies have shown that there is a direct link between educational performance and the amount of part-time work students engage in, with those working longer hours being negatively affected. Suggestions that the minimum wage could be lowered would only add to the increasing immiserisation of student life.

The Levy & Embargo

A public sector embargo on recruitment and promotion has meant that classes, lectures, tutorials, library hours and science laboratories have been cut across the higher education sector to the detriment of both students and staff. The embargo is being used to facilitate a permanent, structural reduction in the numbers of staff serving in the public sector as a whole.

Government policy documents have outlined plans for rationalisation (job losses) of the education sector in conjunction with a process of casualisation of academic labour. A series of Public-Private Partnerships for the building of educational facilities have also been approved, and will be used to undermine the pay and working conditions of ancillary staff. Already staff have been subjected to the pension levy which, according to the government, will generate as estimated €1 billion by the end of the year. As SIPTU and IFUT ballot for industrial action, university presidents such as Hugh Brady at UCD and John Hegarty, the provost of Trinity College Dublin, have recently been awarded a pay rise of 19%.

A motion of opposition to the introduction of tuition fees was adopted by ICTU at their last conference – it’s now up to students to join with staff. The root cause of the problems faced by students are the same as those being faced by staff in the education sector, the public sector as a whole, and the users of public services. Students don’t exist in an bubble.

It’s time for students and their representative organisations to go beyond the myopic issue of tuition fees, and to develop a holistic analysis of the role of education in a post-industrial society; why education is being restructured, in whose interests it is being restructured, what the effects of that restructuring are, and what an alternative could look like? There are recent examples of students tackling the underlying dynamics negatively affecting the education system across Europe, such as the recent student occupations in Austria and the Italian ‘Anomalous Wave’.

Public services such as education have to be funded; the most equitable way of doing this is by making those who can afford to pay, pay the most – through the tax system. Free Education for Everyone has always offered its solidarity to education workers unions on campus, and we recognise that building links between education workers and students is essential if we are to combat the cutbacks destroying education at all levels. Educational disadvantage is the result of interrelated economic and political policies, operating both inside and outside of the education system – it can only be tackled by challenging the fundamental driving forces behind it.

Todays rally can only be the start. On March 30th, we saw a day of action cancelled only days in advance by the ICTU executive in order to re-enter fruitless talks, despite strike balloting suggesting massive levels of anger amongst the membership of the unions. It is time for a serious show of strength from workers, and students must support this by also helping to build support for a national strike on November 24th.

‘Get Up, Stand Up’ on November 6th – but remember – the campaign against cutbacks in education and the commercialisation of Irish education is not a one day affair.

See also:

UCD Siptu vote in favour of stike action

‘Universities or Knowledge Factories‘ (2006) produced by Siptu Education Branch

Univerisites in a Neoliberal World (2006) by Alex Callinicos – A critical analysis of the restructuring of the British education system.  Outlines a similar road which the government will attempt to force Irish education to travel.

Mercator report for UCD on brand image and visual identity (power point)

UCD Academic Staff Asscoiation newsletter – contains Freedom of Information replies on UCDs spending on consultants

University challenged: students and staff ‘demoralised’ by changes at UCD – Sunday Tribune article

FEE (Free Education for Everyone) activists in Ireland involved in an occupation of Paul Gogarty TD’s offices (Green Party Education Spokesperson) in December 2008 have now been threatened almost a year later with “adult cautions” by the Gardai. This is an appeal for solidarity emails and phone calls to remove that threat.

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Update from November 5th -

Morbeg: As things stand, the Gardai have now backed down from their attempts to have us sign legal “adult cautions”, now asking individuals to accept “informal cautions” which are not legally binding and appear to be something made up in the hope of keeping face.

On behalf of the FEE members threatened with these cautions I would like to thank everyone who supported us in our conviction that peaceful direct action is a legitimate form of protest and doesn’t warrant arrests or legal proceedings. The threatened cautions, like our original arrests were merely a method of intimidating protesters and stifling any potential anti fees movements from growing, in much the same way as many of us have witnessed the legal mechanisms being manipulated to crush workers’ and students struggles across the globe in the last year, and so must be resisted in every instance where they are applied. Your correspondence with Paul Gogarty and the Lucan Garda station undoubtedly contributed to their backing down in our case. I would like to express my personal gratitude to all of you as well as my solidarity with the similar struggles many of you are facing.

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Back to the original post:

The occupation was a peaceful protest (1, 2, 3)  against the threat to re-introduce full third level fees. The threat of “adult cautions” under the Public Order Act is an attempt to intimidate these students to prevent them protesting again in the future, as well as to deter others from engaging in protest.

Adult cautions are something that is usually applied within days of the offence. The fact that this is now happening almost a year late is, we think, a result of pressure from Paul Gogarty TD to ensure that some punishment is given.

We are calling for emails and phone-calls of protest from people who are outraged at this assault on the right to protest, to demand that this matter is dropped. A model email of protest is below. Emails should be sent to: lucan_DS@garda.ie , paul.gogarty@oireachtas.ie and copied to defendrighttoprotest@gmail.com . Emails should be marked “FAO: Inspector Pat O’Sullivan, Sgt. Paul Curtis & Paul Gogarty TD”.

Phone calls are much more effective than emails so we encourage people to ring these numbers (including Paul Gogarty’s mobile number!):

Lucan Garda station: +353 1 6667300
Paul Gogarty TD: +353 87 2752489

The time is short on this as the first students are meant to report to receive their cautions on Tuesday – so please do anything you can over the weekend, on Monday and on Tuesday morning.

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To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you regarding the student occupation of Paul Gogarty’s Office in December 2008 by the FEE (Free Education for Everyone) campaign for which the students involved are now being threatened with “adult cautions”. This protest at the Green Party Education Spokesperson to try to stop the re-introduction of third level fees was an entirely peaceful protest.

The threat to caution these students is an outrageous attack on their right to protest and an attempt to intimidate others considering protest.

I demand the removal of the threat of these cautions. All of the students in question simply exercised their right to protest and should suffer no consequences for this. The matter should simply be dropped by the Gardaí.

Yours faithfully,

Written in 2006 by current Labour Party Councillor, Dermot Looney.

Dermot Looney leaves UCD once and for all with confidence in future radicalism.

For other accounts of the last  time the government tried to introduce fees in 2002- 2003, see here and here

Going to UCD was the biggest mistake of my life to date. I never had the career orientation of those for whom Medicine is the automatic CAO choice and whose entire life from the seesaw to the grave was mapped out at age 8. But come the Leaving Cert I had the vaguest of notions of studying History and Politics in Trinity for some reason. It topped my CAO list, followed by three similar courses in her Majesty’s Inner City Polytechnic and a couple in DIT and DCU. UCD came ninth and tenth. Clearly, my results didn’t work out quite as expected.

I began a course in Social Science the week of the September 11th attacks on the US. Perhaps the timing was fortuitous in a twisted kind of way. The subsequent invasion of Afghanistan allowed for a re-emergence of a shadowed anti-war movement in Ireland. Combined with the run-up to the 2002 general election, the space for political discussion and debate in UCD was simultaneously tolerant and radical. I wasn’t involved in a direct political group or organisation but the rumblings of 01-02 were to be met in a straightforward way with the formation of the Campaign for Free Education group (CFE) in the summer of 2002.

Again, I stood on the sidelines – mostly as a student journalist with this paper – as an amalgam of left wing groups and activists set in train the serious shift in political concentration for years to come in the college. 2002-2003 was a crucial year for student activism in UCD, perhaps the most significant in decades.

CFE provided a radical platorm for change but benefited from indirect influences too. The split in the UCD Socialist Workers’ Party the previous summer had allowed a number of activists to move away from the controlling influence of that party’s leadership and develop divergent but intelligent politics with others on the left.

Simultaneously, the growth of UCD’s other Trotskyist Group, Socialist Youth, along with the actions of Labour Party members and hosts of non-aligned activists contributed to a left dynamic rarely so evident in Irish politics. Even on this micro-level the left were to achieve serious results.

CFE succeeded on both a national and college level, attacking the scandalously lethargic and downright awful Students’ Union administration of Aonghus Hourihane and his cronies while taking direct action at USI protests and affecting a shift to the left in that organisation.

The threat of fees presented by then Minister for Education Noel Dempsey – at one time blockaded into the newly-opened Vet Building by CFE – fostered a mood of real anger amongst ordinary students towards both the government and their own feckless union. The landscape was overshadowed by the threat of war in Iraq and UCD activists were involved at all levels of anti-war activism.

There was direct action at Shannon and protests all over Dublin, including a sit-down protest in front of the Dáil on Day X – the day war broke out – comprised almost entirely of UCD students. The development of Indymedia and the embracing of email groups allowed better scope for communication and debate.

Confidence was sky-high and the power of CFE was realised in the unprecedented swing to the left in the 2003 SU elections. Three of the five sabbatical officers – Paul Dillon (President), Aidan Regan (Deputy President) and Oisín Kelly (Education Officer) – were prominent CFE activists and swung the balance of power in the Students’ Union away from Fianna Fáil for the first time in years.

The story since then has been one of mixed fortunes for the radical left in UCD. The Students’ Union administration of Dillon, Regan and Kelly was perhaps the most effective in recent memory; while the ban on the sale of Coke products will be most remembered (initiated as it was outside of the Students’ Union administration), there were considerable successes in winning better conditions for Nurses and Physiotherapists. Radiographers, for so long ignored by Students’ Union administrations, were given support in their campaign against compulsory prayer seminars, one of the greatest scandals in recent times in Irish third level education.

There were innovative campaigns against library cutbacks – a thousand students taking part in four separate occupations of libraries in Belfield and Earlsfort Terrace – and welfare campaigns were brought to a new level by a Welfare Officer, Jennifer Allen, perceived to be on the right.

The overall ethos of that Union was one of hard work, action from below and better communication. For the first time UCD saw an Access Week, a Green Week, mass attendance at the USI 10K charity walk and involvement by the Union in Anti-Deportation activism.

The landslide election of Fergal Scully in 2004 was seen as a seal of approval from the student body in a radical, active, campaigning type of Students’ Union.

But the subsequent victories of James Carroll and Dan Hayden mark a return to the old type of Union which sees the college authorities and government as unquestionable partners and the Union as little more than a service provider. So where now for the left?

The successes of 2002-03 were brought about by a mixture of a radical background and sustained action by groups of activists working together. There are key lessons the left in UCD can learn from these victories and move towards rebuilding a student movement in UCD.

The ingredients for change include a conscious effort to move away from sectarianism; all victories have been won by progressive activists coming together.

Moving away from the keyboard wars of ucdsu.net and onto actual activism, meeting students where they are with sustained campaigns is crucial. Continuing action outside the narrow prism of UCD politics is vital too, linking with other activists around the country to reclaim USI and establish grassroots campaigns outside the USI structure.

Influence within the Union can come with a broad election platform in elections to UCDSU Council this coming October. Influence in UCD outside the Union can come with support for staff alienated by Brady’s corporate project and in supporting the independent media.

2002-03 can’t be repeated, nor should it be. But the new generation of activists can take heart from previous achievements in building a better, fairer UCD. I won’t be there to see it but the biggest and best mistake of my life might just continue for some years to come.

from UCD’s university Observer:

UCD’s branch of SIPTU has voted in favour of industrial strike action in the row over compulsory redundancies.

The ballot, which was passed by a margin of 88 per cent to 12 per cent, is in protest against UCD’s proposal to introduce compulsory redundancies for staff in the university.

Scheduling of the strike action is yet to be finalised and Senior Lecturer in the UCD School of Sociology and President of SIPTU’s Education division, Dr Kieran Allen, said the timing of such action “depends on management.”

Dr Allen stated that the action is a result of “a threat from management to change a statute without consulting us.” UCD have decided to look into the possibility of compulsory redundancies as a cost cutting measure. The Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC), of which UCD is a member, has called for compulsory redundancies in the public sector.

Dr Allen, however, maintains that job losses are unnecessary, telling The University Observer, “we don’t accept their argument. They have an argument that there are researchers who are being kept on and there’s no work for them.” He continued that “those researchers have been employed for seven or eight years here, and under the terms of the Fixed Term Workers Act, they are entitled to a contract of definite duration.” He also felt that “because people have won their legal rights, it is [UCD] responding with compulsory redundancies.”

In a circular email sent last week to all SIPTU members within UCD and seen by The University Observer, Dr Allen wrote: “It is perfectly clear that a section of management are trying to use the recession and the crisis of funding in the University, which they created, to use ‘shock doctrine’ tactics and change working conditions”, and that he doesn’t believe the redundancies will be confined to researchers.

SIPTU representatives have met with University officials in an effort to end the dispute, but Dr Allen stated that, “the ball is now back in management’s court,” and that “we’ve been available to meet management since August, but they haven’t gotten back to us.”

The University Observer had not received a response from the University on the matter at the time of going to print.

29th September 2009

Student campaign group, Free Education for Everyone (FEE) is planning to planning to stage a blockade of Bertie Aherns appearance at a debate on the Lisbon Treaty, tonight at 7pm in UCD’s O’Reilly Hall. Following a blockade of Brian Lenihan by the group last September, Martin Mansergh, Mary Hannafin and Conor Lenihan were forced to pull out of other scheduled appearances at the college.

Ben McCormick, second year History student stated, “Bertie Ahern and the government constructed our economy like a house of cards. Now that’s it’s fallen apart, students are left to pick up the pieces for a lack of public investment in education. The reintroduction of fees or a loan system will negatively impact on students from lower socio-economic backgrounds entering third level education”.

Paul Stewart, second year arts student stressed, “Education shouldn’t be a debt sentence. The scarcity of part-time work and the lack of an adequate grant system means that many students are already in debt as they try to cover the costs of education. Heaping more debt on students in the form of fees will only make the situation worse. If the government are going to block our access to education, we’re going to block their access to our campus.

FEE is a grassroots campaign group which was started by students and staff in UCD in September 2008 to fight against the the reintroduction of third level fees, increases in the registration fee, cutbacks and the commercialisation of education. Branches have spread to Trinity, NUI Maynooth, Galway, Limerick and Cork. Last year the group organised numerous protests, blockades and occupations.

ENDS

Education shouldn’t be a debt sentence.

UCD Free Education for Everyone are holding a protest against the arrival of pro-fees TD, Bertie Ahern on campus.

Meet outside the library, today at 6:30pm.

Ah Jaysis, a protest? That’s counterproductive lads, cud yis not send an angry email to me secretary instead?

The man who helped build the Irish economy like a house of cards is coming to UCD to chair a LawSoc debate on the Lisbon Treaty. Ahern is still a TD and will get wheeled out to vote for the reintroduction of fees & a fresh set of cutbacks in this Decembers budget – and he’ll get away with it unless some pesky kids can stop him.

In addition, UCD Siptu Education branch are currently fighting against the colleges attempt to force through compulsory redundancies.

In a series of policy documents, both the government and Fine Gael have charted a course for higher education in Ireland. Among the proposals are:

• The introduction of a student contribution (deferred loans, extra prsi contributions) to cover the costs of tuition

• A reduction in public funding with the gap being filled by a reliance on private companies & philantropists (institutionalised charity)

• Redirecting funding away from Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences in order to increase the funding of more ‘commerically productive’ courses

• Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to allow private consortiums to build and manage educational facilities

• Using PPPs to privatise ancillary services such as cleaning, maintenance & security, in order to undermine pay & work conditions

There’s no point standing on the sidelines watching this happen. The future of education is up for grabs – it’s up to students and staff to take control of it.

If the government are going to block our access to education, we’re going to block their access to our campus.

Brian Lenihan blockade 2008 – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89547
FEE scare off Martin Mansergh 2008 – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89395
Another one bites the dust. Conor lenihan pulls out 2008 – http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89840
Eamon O’Cuiv gets ‘welcomed’ in NUIG – http://www.sin.ie/site/view/288/
Noel Dempsey gets blockaded 2002 – http://free-education.info/2002/10/16/ucd-students-barr…ding/

brian lenihan protest 2008

FEE protest @ the UCD clinton building 2008

Noel Dempsey gets welcomed to ucd 2002

Dempsey protest @ ucd vet building 2002

Up to 40 third-level students staged a protest outside the Department of Finance in Dublin today at the planned reintroduction of college fees and the education cutbacks announced in the Budget.

Some 15 of the protesters from the Free Education for Everyone (FEE) group entered the building in Merrion Street and held a sit-in on the main stairwell for over two hours.

The students said budgetary cutbacks in the education sector were placing undue strain on young people and a new third-level fees regime would force many to emigrate.

A strong Garda presence was on hand to monitor the protest, and there were no arrests.

After a meeting between student representatives and a senior Department official, at which the students submitted a written of list concerns, the protest ended.

One of the protesters, UCD student Julian Brophy, said the protest took place “in order to highlight the shameful action on the part of the Government in its recent Budget, the implications of which will see unbearable strain placed on young people, students and college workers”.

Donal Fallon, a NUI Maynooth student, said: “We oppose education cutbacks, the reintroduction of fees, in any form, and the attack on college workers. The actions of the Government will force many young people out of this country.”

Jonathan Adams, also from NUI Maynooth, said: “We are here to argue for education not emigration. We feel the Budget was putting the squeeze on young people and students”

Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe is due to bring proposals on a new fees regime before the Cabinet shortly.

Mr O’Keeffe has indicated the fees would not come into force until September 2010 and would only apply to new entrants.

However, he has hinted the 40,000 students due to enter college for the first time this autumn may be liable for the fees in 2010.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0416/breaking31.htm

Ten days after that big research merger between UCD and TCD, the education sector is beginning to critically examine some of the hyperbole which accompanied the alliance.

Original post: 
Do UCD/TCD job figures add up?

What lessons can be drawn from the research merger between University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin?

Here is the original: 
UCD is big winner in merger

Students were yesterday accused of “pulling stunts” by the youth wing of the Green Party after a five-hour sit-in at the Department of Environment.

The Union of Students in ireland (USI) turned their focus on Green Party leader and Environment Minister John Gormley in the latest demonstrations opposing the re-introduction of fees.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/students-accused-of-pulling-stunts–with-sitin-protest-1642025.html