Students union debt forces subscription hike

STUDENTS must pay higher subscriptions to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to help resolve a financial crisis that is forcing officers to work without pay.

The union’s annual congress has decided to set up an internal investigation into how the debt situation accumulated.

Although the full extent of the shortfall is unclear, it is believed a six-figure sum is needed to balance the books. A major factor was the loss of funds tied up in the student travel group USIT which suffered difficulties after the September 11 attacks in New York.

This has led to a decision to leave nine elected union officers off the payroll from next month until their terms end in July. But most will work on voluntarily, foregoing one-quarter of their annual payment of under €20,000.

The union received some better news this week, with the Department of Education notifying them it is to provide a once-off allocation of €60,000. The funding is being given due to USI’s work to give students information about maintenance grants.

The congress in Ennis, Co Clare, decided on Monday night to increase affiliation fees for the 250,000 students in 40 member colleges from €2.86 to €5. The fee is deducted from the annual registration charge imposed by colleges, which is then passed to the student union.

USI northern area officer and president-elect Ben Archibald said he and other officers will work through.

“It’s a testament to how committed we are to the job but the situation for the new officer board will be considered before they start work in July,” he said.

The union’s annual budget is estimated to be around €300,000, including salaries of four staff. The investigation approved by congress will be carried out by a committee to find out how the debt arose.

“It’s not a finger-pointing exercise, we just want to see what lessons can be learned,” Mr Archibald said.

Meanwhile, USI has joined forces with the country’s largest trade union SIPTU to raise awareness of the rights of students to earn the minimum wage. More than half of Irish third-level students have part-time jobs, but there are fears that many are still being paid less than the statutory €7-an-hour rate.

SIPTU’s Mike Jennings said both unions can work closely on student’s rights as workers.