Ms Annette Dolan:

I thank the joint committee for giving us the opportunity to address it on this important issue. The Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, represents more than 16,000 members in the second level, further education, adult education and higher education sectors. Many of our members have experienced a range of issues related to precarious and casualised employment and although the union has, through a variety of collective agreements and expert reports, secured methods to address these concerns, there remain several issues that the proposed Bill may address.

The TUI has been campaigning against precarious employment and casualised work for more than a decade. The introduction of the Fixed Term Workers Act 2003 had the unintended consequence in the education sector of not making a teacher or lecturer permanent but part-time. Previously in the education sector permanence had travelled hand in hand with full-time work, but this unfortunately has changed. The TUI supports the recommendations made in the University of Limerick study and believes the Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 is an important way of ending the exploitation of workers and will do so in respect of the more than 40 grades it represents.

Our permanent part-time members have experience reduced security of employment, reduced terms and conditions and reduced pay owing to their long-term experience of part-time work. They are as a result finding it extremely difficult to earn a living. They have been employed on rations of hours and for parts of jobs, one third of a job in many cases. In being employed as such they are receiving significantly less pay than their colleagues employed on full-time contracts. This has not necessarily meant that such workers have been available for the other two thirds to undertake other work, as in many instances their work has been scheduled in such a way as to make it impossible to secure any other source of income. Therefore, in the Banded Hours Contract Bill there must be a provision on the scheduling of hours for persons employed for less than full hours. Our members do not have one third of a life, one third of a family or one third of a mortgage. They face the same pressures, financial and familial, as any other person.

The problem in many employments is that there is an assumption on the part of employers that the universal human right to a standard of living adequate for one’s health and well-being, as well as the health and well-being of one family, is secondary to flexibility. The Banded Hours Contract Bill should address this issue.

The TUI’s campaign has led to some improvements by way of a process designed to allow some of our members to accumulate whole-time and permanent positions. We have secured a collective agreement with the Department of Education and Skills for our members across the second level, further education and third level sectors, whereby, although under the law it takes four years to secure a permanent contract, members are obtaining contracts of definite duration or permanent contracts after two years. If they secure a permanent contract of less than four hours, there is a provision in the circular working hours agreement to augment them. There is a ratcheting-up procedure to augment their contracts. That is set out very clearly the for second level and further education sectors. We have had some teething difficulties in the third level sector, but we are hoping they will be addressed further in discussions. For our colleagues in the third level sector, we have had experience of zero hour contracts, hourly paid part-time contracts, associate lecturer precarious contracts and assistant lecturers on part-time contracts of indefinite duration. Again, these are fractions of jobs, with no security of employment.

The pay gained by this precarious work cannot support a living wage. A letter circularised as result of a collective agreement gives contracts of indefinite duration after two years. There is a provision in respect of the augmentation of hours and we hope that the initial difficulties we have had in some places will be addressed further. Maybe that is something the Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 can deal with. Researchers employed in the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, who are highly qualified and very valuable to this economy are on very precarious contracts with little or no security of tenure, pension provision or promotional opportunities.