Labour Court rejects request for pay review at technological universities across Ireland

One of the issues that had arisen in the course of the dispute is the fact that, in 2023, the TUI found out senior posts were about to be sanctioned for Munster Technological University (MTU) without the union’s 'consultation and agreement'. Picture: Denis Minihane

The Labour Court has rejected a request for an urgent review of the pay at the country’s technological universities and institutes of technology.

The review was sought by the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) which said the Government was not adhering to a years-old collective pay agreement across the technological university (TU) sector.

Agreed in 2017, it related to — among other things — a commitment by the then government to address major issues and developments in the sector, including “relevant matters” like pay parity.

The ongoing dispute over breaches to the agreement was referred to the Labour Court, and a hearing held on December 18.

At it, the union requested the court recommend an urgent review of senior pay in the TU sector and that the 2017 agreement be “respected and adhered to by the department”.

One of the issues that had arisen in the course of this dispute is the fact that, in 2023, the TUI found out senior posts were about to be sanctioned for Munster Technological University (MTU) without the union’s “consultation and agreement”.

The union understood it was proposed to pay five vice-presidents more than five faculty deans and their salary rates were “considerably less” than posts with the same title in TU Dublin, where both the vice-president posts and the faculty deans posts are paid at the same rate.

The Labour Court heard the Department of Further and Higher Education did not accept it had failed to adhere to the terms of the May 2017 collective agreement.

The department said some variation in the pay and make-up of senior manager teams was not unusual.

Officials told the court there was nothing in the [2017] agreement that requires all senior manager teams to be paid the same and it is not unusual for there to be variations in the rates across the sector.

Department of Further and Higher Education officials accepted the agreement did provide for good communication and a ‘no surprises’ approach to the engagement with the union.

They also acknowledged that — “with the benefit of hindsight” — a different approach to engagement around MTU senior management team ahead of a sanction being granted could have lessened any inadvertent risk of surprise.

However, the court heard the Department of Further and Higher Education's position was that the remuneration sanctioned for the various posts for the senior management team was fair and variation across senior pay was the norm in the sector.

In its decision, the court stated: “The court carefully considered the submissions of the parties.

“In the overall circumstances of this case, the court cannot recommend in favour of the unions’ request for a referral to the higher remuneration body.”