Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The issue of treating PhD students as workers is the central issue because what flows from it is that, if we recognise them as employees, then they have to be paid at least the minimum wage. They are workers in terms of the research work they do but also, in very many cases, in the context of the unpaid work the do in delivering tutorials, demonstrations, correcting assignments and exams, and even lecturing. In very many cases, a condition for getting PhD scholarships to cover their fees is that they have to do this teaching. The truth is that universities have become increasingly reliant on this unpaid and low paid labour over the past decades, and PhDs have been particularly badly hit. That is why a key demand of the Postgraduate Workers Alliance and the PhDs’ Collective Action Union is for worker status for PhDs. It would address the major issues with pay and change immigration status for many non-EU PhDs, giving them a greater right to travel. It would also allow them to engage in collective bargaining.

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