UCC students seek assurances amid Tyndall staff strike threat

Students at University College Cork want assurances that library and other services will not be hit by a strike during exams next week.

The call came as management applied to the High Court for an injunction to prevent staff of the Tyndall National Institute, a leading UCC research centre, picketing the main campus on Wednesday, May 13. The application comes back before the court later this week to give Siptu and the Irish Federation of University Teachers (Ifut) a chance to respond to the proceedings.

The unions are in a long-running industrial dispute, seeking parity of pay between members at Tyndall and counterparts in UCC. They closed the research institute last Friday and will do so today and tomorrow, with plans to place pickets on six entrances to the main UCC campus during a fourth strike day next Wednesday if the row is not resolved.

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While unions have promised no disruption to exams, the UCC Students’ Union (UCCSU) would prefer the strike was deferred and said students would have concerns if an injunction was not granted.

“We completely appreciate Tyndall staff’s right to strike but my main concern is around the students who will be sitting exams on that day. It’s no different than if there was a threat of industrial action in secondary schools during the Leaving Cert, it’s just as serious,” said UCCSU president Mark Stanton.

“When they say that nobody who is anyway involved with exams won’t be asked to join a picket, that has to include staff of library services and restaurants on campus. The university has to go on as normal from students’ point of view.”

Ifut general secretary Mike Jennings said both unions have given an absolute commitment that they will not interfere with exams in any way, and are happy to talk to UCCSU to satisfy any concerns.

“We are sure management are deliberately trying to create uncertainty, when we have said we don’t see hitting the exams as any way a valid strategic target,” he said.

In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan permitted UCC to serve at short notice on Siptu and Ifut its intention to seek an injunction preventing the extension of picketing to the main campus on May 13.

RELATED: Tyndall staff to picket over pay

Tom Mallon, counsel for UCC, said that the proposed extension of picketing is not part of a valid trade dispute. While a ballot of union members at Tyndall had taken place, there had been no such ballot by members working in the main campus, he said.

This was in breach of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 covering secret ballots for industrial action which must be held among all members affected, he said. In an affidavit, UCC human resources manager Barry O’Brien said he believed the unions were using the ballot at Tyndall to justify picketing at the main campus.

The court also heard there were concerns about the effect picketing may have on exams due to take place next Wednesday. The summer exams began last week for almost 13,000 UCC students and are scheduled to end on Friday week, two days after the proposed pickets on the main campus.

UCC management say the disputed outcomes of a job evaluation exercise aimed at addressing pay anomalies are open to be examined in an appeals process. However, Siptu and Ifut say an independent appeal system has not been agreed.

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