On Saturday 11th December, USI National Council passed a motion allowing the USI leadership to call for the renegotiation of the Croke Park Deal, so that public-sector pay can be further cut in the hope of protecting students’ frontline services.

The motion was proposed by UCD Student’s Union, who recently released a statement calling for the Croke Park Deal to be scrapped.

The decision has already drawn widespread criticism within the student movement. Former USI Eastern Area Officer, Chris Bond, said:

This is a very shortsighted move on behalf of USI, many students have family members who are protected by the Croke Park deal. Do they not realise that they are indirectly attacking the living standards of their own members? Every sector of Society has suffered hardship because of the governments policy of cutbacks. Instead of viewing the trade union movement as enemies, USI should work closer with the Unions in order to ensure a better deal for students and workers alike.

In a Facebook note, former USI Deputy President Dan O’Neill criticised the motion, saying:

Surely it would make more sense… to follow the example of the National Union of Students in Britain and work with the trade unions. After all, it is groups such as IBEC and the IUA that have been lobbying for the introduction of full college fees, not the unions!

By passing this motion, USI are tacitly accepting that ordinary people, rather than the wealthy, must bear the cost of the present economic crisis. The student movement should stand in solidarity with workers, both public and private-sector, the unemployed etc. in resisting the government’s cutback agenda, rather than allowing the government to divide and conquer.

It is clear now more than ever that Gary “Vote Fianna Fáil for Jobs” Redmond and his friends in the Students’ Unions cannot be trusted to lead a real fightback on behalf of students. It is imperative that students organise independently on a grassroots basis to resist austerity.

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Do you work in Higher Education? You can leave comments in the section below, or you can send articles to stopfees@gmail.com

“Fuck workers, protect students,” says USI is a post from Free Education for Everyone

Members of the NUIM IFUT Branch Committee sent the letter below to NUI Maynooth Student Union President congratulating the students on demonstrating in defense of Irish education and expressing grave concern at Garda actions on the Wednesday November the 3rd.

They describe USI Presidents Gary Redmonds condemnation of those engaged in the occupation and sit-down protests as a “shameful betrayal”.

Update: Former DCU President Ferdinand von Prondzynski has criticised NUIM staff for issuing this letter.

Letter to NUI Maynooth Student Union from members of the NUIM IFUT Branch Committee

November 9th 2010

Dear Aengus,

We are writing to you in order to express our solidarity with Maynooth students in the aftermath of the events of Wednesday last, November 3rd. The national student demonstration against fees in Dublin was a genuinely impressive and heartening occasion. Tens of thousands of students were successfully mobilised in opposition to one of the many pernicious policies being assembled by this discredited government. The response from the student body in Maynooth was particularly impressive. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Students’ Union on all the hard work that went into ensuring that Maynooth students were such a noticeable presence on the demonstration. As both academics and trade unionists, we share with the student movement a profound concern about the direction of government policy in the university sector. In particular, we would echo your misgivings about the impact of increased fees on students from less affluent backgrounds.

While some aspects of the national demonstration offered grounds for optimism, others were more unsettling. In particular, we would like to express our profound concern at the manner in which the Gardai conducted themselves during the events that unfolded at the Department of Finance. Those of us who were present witnessed first-hand a response to the demonstration on the part of the police that was excessive, indiscriminate and downright dangerous. The violence that the Gardai directed at demonstrators in the vicinity of the Department of Finance deserves to be loudly and explicitly condemned by those who hold office within the national student movement. Given that many of the demonstrators outside the Department of Finance were verbally and, more importantly, physically assaulted by police officers, it might reasonably have been expected that the conduct of the Gardai would have been condemned by the President of the Unions of Students in Ireland. Rather than criticise the actions of those who attacked the student demonstrators, the President of USI chose instead to condemn those of his own members who had attempted to occupy the Department of Finance. In our view, his comments on Wednesday last represent a shameful betrayal of those whom he was elected to serve and represent.

In sum, we wish to congratulate the Maynooth Students’ Union on its magnificent mobilisation in support of the national demonstration and to extend our solidarity to those students who were injured in the attempted occupation of the Department of Finance. We appreciate your efforts to generate better relations with the other unions on campus and hope that we will continue to work well with one another in the future.

With Best Wishes,

Dr Colin Coulter, Department of Sociology, Vice Chairperson of the Maynooth branch of IFUT
Dr Colmán Etchingham, Department of History, Chairperson of the Maynooth branch of IFUT

Professor Joe Cleary, Department of English
Dr Brid Connolly, Department of Adult and Community Education
Dr Aileen O’Carroll, Irish Qualitative Data Archive
Dr Éamon Ó Ciosáin, Department of French
Dr Gavan Titley, Department of Media Studies
(Members of the Maynooth Branch Committee of IFUT

Academics and staff members at NUI Maynooth support student protesters is a post from Free Education for Everyone

At universities across Ireland (such as  NUIM, UCD and NUIG) students took time today to offer solidarity to education workers in a real,practical way- by joining them on picket lines.

The failure of the NUI Maynooth Student Union to support the one day strike did not deter a group of over 60 students from joining workers on various pickets at the University over the course of the day. Marchin

g together, a mix of students from various political organisations and campaigns, along with individual students, first took up residence at the en

trance to the North Campus.  Here, they joined members of Unite, IFUT and Siptu  who were picketing. The reception from staff to the  presence of students was fantastic.

The Labour Youth NUI Maynooth branch produced a great showing on the day, and these student activists moved to the South Campus entrance.  At 2PM many students who had picketed the North Campus entrance moved to join them, in a showing of solidarity with workers on that campus.

The University was dead during the strike, with very few academic staff crossing the picket. The vast majority of students did not attend the University, and respected the decision of NUIM staff to strike. In the build up to the strike, activists from Free Education for Everyone and the Social Solidarity Network had attempted to push the fact that job losses on campus will have a hugely negative effect on the standard of education on offer to students at the University. The fact so few students ‘crossed the picket’ is an indication that message got through.

A sincere thank you to all students who attended pickets today.

An Injury To One Is An Injury To All.

A Report From The Picket Lines: NUI Maynooth is a post from Free Education for Everyone

All of the trade unions representing staff working on the Maynooth campus are taking part in a one-day strike on Tuesday November 24th. The strike is protesting against the threat of further government-imposed cuts in the pay of university employees. Action is being taken following ballots in which the majority of members of the unions that are taking part voted in favour of coming out on strike.

Pickets will be placed at the entrances to the North and South campuses throughout the day on Tuesday. Students are asked not to pass these pickets and not to enter the campus while the strike is in progress. (A distinction is, of course, recognised here between students residing on campus and those who would normally be coming in to attend lectures etc. There is no intention to interfere with anyone’s access to their home. The aim is to bring the ordinary working parts of the university – its lecture theatres, labs, library etc. – to a halt for the period of the strike).

Hopefully you will have been informed of the cancellation of your classes by your lecturers in advance of Tuesday. If you are in any doubt, please contact the lecturer concerned to confirm that cancellation. With official pickets in place, the only people who will be conducting or attending classes will be those who have deliberately chosen to break the strike. Given the wide range of Maynooth employees stopping work on the day, it is quite likely that the campus will close down completely. University management intend to try and keep it open but health and safety considerations may lead them to reconsider this position once the strike is in progress. If you do not wish to actively express support for the strike, your wisest course of action may be to stay away from Maynooth on November 24th. Public transport services are likely to be disrupted on that day because workers right across the public sector are going to be involved in the strike.

It must be emphasised that trade union members on the campus are seeking and will warmly welcome student support for their action. Pay cuts are part of a wider package of measures that will progressively reduce the resourcing and the quality of the education provided to students in our schools and universities. The return to charging students tuition fees forms part of the same political agenda. Students and staff have a common interest in the protection of our education system against the kind of destructive changes with which it is currently threatened.

A letter from trade unionists on campus regarding November24th is a post from Free Education for Everyone

Mr Robinson warned that the drift in western countries towards commercialised universities and dubious quality providers must be resisted if universities are to preserve their function as reservoirs of research and innovation.

“Medical researchers, for instance, have warned that the focus on market outcomes has encouraged a misguided emphasis on research that produces minor modifications to existing care, rather than fundamental explorations of illness.

“Increased research collaboration with industry, actively encouraged by governments, is increasing restrictions on academics and even causing prominent scandals. In the University of Toronto, a clinician, who sought to inform participants in her research at the Hospital for Sick Children that a new drug could pose health risks, had her funding withdrawn by the sponsoring company and legal action was initiated to prevent her highlighting the issue.

“In Britain, the government recently announced ST£106 million of research funding towards areas of ‘predicted economic potential’ while the Universities Secretary stated that ‘universities need to focus more on supporting the economy’. This approach, dressed up as a ‘value-for-money’ policy, ignores the fact that the world’s most important scientific discoveries typically have come from basic research,” David Robinson said.

Danish speaker, Jens Vraa-Jensen, of Education International (EI), warned that universities cannot be managed according to market principles and at the same time fulfil their basic mission.

“The basic raison d’être for any private enterprise is to create profit for its owners. The purpose of a university is not profit, but to spend money in the most appropriate way on teaching students and conducting research to develop the intellectual capacity of future generations and provide the society with new knowledge for future development and welfare.

“Teaching in a competitive market situation will be reduced to the fastest way of providing students with only the absolute necessary skills to get them employed after graduation. Intellectual development, which takes time in many cases, will be the first victim,” he said.

Mike Jennings, General Secretary of IFUT, said that some Irish private third-level colleges are claiming it is ‘unfair’ that they do not receive state funding, while a number of universities here now require evidence of ability to fundraise when appointing senior academics.

“Irish universities must not become the pawns of market forces and private speculators, who view education as just another source of profit and their students like customers in a supermarket,” Mr Jennings said.

Universities threatened by market-based funding, warn international experts is a post from Free Education for Everyone

Many students  return home on Thursday night and Friday morning, with Friday traditionally the quiestest day on campus. We would urge students, and their families, to attend one of the demonstrations on November sixth.

There are 8 regional protests, and  all commence at 2.30pm on November 6th:

• Dublin – Parnell Square
• Waterford – The Glen
• Tullamore – County Hall
• Cork – Connolly Hall
• Limerick – Mechanics Institute
• Galway – The Cathedral
• Sligo – The Blue Lagoon
• Dundalk – The Fairgreen

Free Education for Everyone NUI Maynooth  will be on the Dublin demonstration,  and we’d be delighted if any students in the Maynooth/Dublin area come to Dublin that day and join us. Commuters from further afield should attend the regional demonstrations.

Free Education for Everyone NUI Maynooth 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. In NUI Maynooth, various Departments are currently facing massive unfair cutbacks at a time the University sees nothing wrong with the prospect of hosting Bertie Ahern T.D.

Free Education for Everyone NUI Maynooth sends full support to both the Irish Federation of University Teachers and SIPTU on campus, and indeed to the unions representing general workers on campus too.  On November 6th, we march with these people in defence of our campus, and the working conditions of those on it.

This rally can only be the start. On March 30th, we seen a day of action cancelled only days in advance, despite strike balloting suggesting huge levels of unhappiness amongst the membership of the unions. It is time for  a serious show of strength from workers, and as students- we must support this.

For more information on the ICTU Day of Action, visit www.getupstandup.ie

‘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. Get involved in Free Education for Everyone in NUIM by emailing feemaynooth@gmail.com or adding us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nuimfightfees

Some activists from UCD FEE at the February Congress demo.

FEE NUIM urges Maynooth Students to march on November 6th. is a post from Free Education for Everyone