Labour Court recommends UCD teachers’ pay cuts be reviewed against other colleges

The Labour Court recommended that University College Dublin and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union compare how pay cuts were applied to similar teachers at other third-level institutions, then discuss an arrangement no less favourable than those comparisons. The recommendation was signed on 10 November 2014. The dispute concerned Small Group Teachers in UCD’s School of Business, who were paid by teaching module. The university’s formula brought them within the Public Service Stability Agreement’s pay-cut bracket for workers earning more than €65,000 a year. The union sought restoration of the cuts while a fair full-time-equivalent comparator was established; the university argued its formula was fair and that cost-increasing claims under the agreement were prohibited.