Student Independent News
NUACHTÁN SAOR IN AISCE VOL. 22 Issue 01. 06 OCT 2020
WINNER: BEST NEWSPAPER AT THE NATIONAL STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS 2019
NUI Galway Postgraduate INSIDE workers sign open letter to University to better conditions By Conor Brummell News and Current Affairs Editor Deputy.sined@gmail.com The Postgraduate Workers Alliance Group in NUI Galway have penned and signed an open letter to the University Management Team to better work conditions for PHD candidates in the University. The open letter, addressed to the President of NUI Galway Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, was also sent to the Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation Simon Harris and Dean of Graduate Studies in NUI Galway, Professor Dónal Leech.
The letter was penned in protest of the fact that the University is asking postgraduate workers to do 120 hours of unpaid teaching throughout the course of the year, with no remuneration despite the fact that they will be putting themselves in classrooms during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. “The arrangements whereby postgraduates carry out teaching or related academic duties is exploitative and unjust during ‘normal’ times, and this unfairness is even more palpable given postgraduates are now expected to carry out these duties on the front lines of a global pandemic,” the letter states. “When we accepted scholarships to carry out our research at NUI Galway, we signed a declaration to the Revenue Commissioners that, to the best of our
knowledge, there would be “no element of service (directly or indirectly) between the sponsor and I or between the colleges/university and I.” “Carrying out unpaid teaching work would represent a breach of this declaration.” NUI Galway is a signatory of the European Researchers Charter, which includes the statement that “employers and/or funders should ensure that teaching duties are adequately remunerated.” By requesting that postgraduate workers do unpaid work, the University would be in breach of this charter, according to the PWAG. “In light of these concerns that have yet to be adequately dealt with by the University, we have no option but to make it clear that we do not recognise any expectation of unpaid work as legitimate.” “Consequently, as postgraduate workers at NUI Galway, we hereby declare our intention to refuse to carry out any work which is not remunerated at the existing collectively bargained rate,” the letter concludes. The open letter is accompanied by a petition addressed to Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, demanding that the unfair working conditions faced by postgraduate workers be resolved as soon as possible. At the time of writing, the petition had reached 415 signatures out of its 500-signature goal. According to the guidelines for Research Degree programmes, where a programme is four years in length, “All PhD students should make contributions over six semesters or three academic years to cognate academic programmes, Photo: Oisín Bradley without extra payment.”
PAGE 12: Gary Elbert tells SIN about his experience running 100 miles through the iconic Connemara landscape. It also states that, “Funded students must comply with the terms of any funding award. It is subject to a maximum of 120 hours per year.” Dean of Graduate Studies Donál Leech has disputed the PWAG’s arguments, disagreeing with claims that postgraduate students are being exploited by the university. “I disagree that postgraduate students are being exploited at this time. There is no change to our research degree guidelines during Covid-19, apart from issuance by me of guidance on how teaching contributions may be allocated within units (Schools, disciplines etc) during Covid-19.” “This guidance required that no research supervisor or line manager will be expected to impel a research student to undertake an on-campus teaching contribution. Research students that are allocated teaching contribution should be supported to deliver the teaching contribution, whether on-campus or remotely.” he stated. While acknowledging potential issues regarding oversight surrounding teaching contributions Leech noted that the Department are collaborating with the colleges and Student’s Union Representatives to address the problems. Continued on page 1