Staff dispute may see €1m added to UCC’s pay bill

More than €1m could be added to the annual pay bill at University College Cork if a report on equalising pay at one of its biggest research centres is adopted.

Despite recommendations that more than two-thirds of staff receive average increases of €9,000 a year each at the Tyndall National Institute, unions will outline concerns about the job comparison exercise to a meeting at the Labour Relations Commission tomorrow.

The report by independent consultants was commissioned to help resolve the long-running dispute at Tyndall, where staff had forced the research centre to close in a one-day strike a year ago over disagreement ab- out how the outcome of the review would be implemented.

At that stage, the exercise had yet to be carried out but Siptu and Irish Federation of University Teachers members were concerned that any pay differences that might emerge could take too long to be rectified.

It is understood that the review has found that, of 182 Tyndall staff evaluated through comparison with workers at UCC, 115 were being paid less.

The raises they would be due range from just over €100 a year to €29,000, but with most at the lower end of the scale, and would total over €1m before pension contribution and PRSI costs to the university.

However, the exercise also found that 67 researchers and other staff, more than one third of those compared, were earning an average €10,000 more than comparator employees at the main UCC campus.

While the differential is understood to have ranged from between €150 to €40,000 in one case, the unions rep- resenting Tyndall staff are not satisfied with the outcome.

It is understood that their grievances relate to the grades which were compared, with claims that many researchers and IT experts at Tyndall, for example, had their pay evaluated against UCC administrative staff who do not carry out research work.

UCC did not comment on the issue when asked about the situation by the Irish Examiner.

Under the report’s recommendations, 176 Tyndall staff would be placed on administrative staff grades and the associated pay levels, four would be graded as senior technical officers, and two as professors.

Tyndall is one of the main sources of research income for UCC, and has led breakthroughs in areas like medical devices, microelectronic chips, and developing high-speed broadband networks.