BIMM lecturers facing redundancies
Paul Murphy condemns redundancies, reduced pay and insecure contracts affecting BIMM lecturers and urges TU Dublin and the State to intervene. The Taoiseach says BIMM is a private provider, but must follow collective redundancy rules and should engage with the Workplace Relations Commission.
The lecturers of the BIMM music college have been forced onto the picket lines. They face an incredible assault on their rights, with 53 workers facing redundancy. A small number of them will be re-employed on less than half the hourly wage they were on previously and the rest will be faced with the choice of getting bogus self-employment on zero-hour contracts. This is part of the so-called "Uberisation" of academic conditions. The State cannot wash its hands of what is happening here. Approximately 80% of the students are in BIMM, and paid for by the State, through TU Dublin, which has, effectively, outsourced to BIMM. Will the Taoiseach say that BIMM should engage with the workers at the WRC, which it has failed to do up until now? Will he also say that the State cannot have contracts with a company that proceeds to treat workers so shoddily and-----
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-----TU Dublin should tell BIMM to back off or else it will not be able to continue with this arrangement?
Comment on this
This is an important and distressing issue for those suffering as a result of this decision. Our main concern is for the employees of BIMM who are affected by these redundancies. It is very difficult for them. Industrial relations mechanisms should be used, particularly to resolve issues between the institute and its staff. It is a private provider of education and not a public provider.
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It is mostly funded by the State.
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We have a very strong suite of employment rights in this country to protect and support workers in redundancy situations and employers must comply with a number of legal obligations when proposing collective redundancies, including the requirement to consult and provide information to employees and their representatives for a 30-day period before any notice of redundancy can issue. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment must also be notified of the proposals at least 30 days before the dismissal takes place. I ask that the organisation engage with the Workplace Relations Commission.