Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Let us be clear, their strike action, the actions of their union and the fact the matter was raised in this House all put pressure on BIMM to come to the table. It had previously refused to go to the WRC. There is a serious issue here, especially as the workers were working under the auspices of TUD. Essentially, TUD had outsourced this degree to a private company. That contract will be up for renewal in a couple of years. I would ask the Department to talk to colleagues in other Departments, particularly the Department of higher education, and say that it should be a condition of tenders that those tendering would guarantee decent pay and conditions and not allow outsourcing to create yellow-pack grades of pay and conditions for people working in higher education. Otherwise, we will get a race to the bottom and a repeat of this kind of thing. Proactive action by the Government to prevent this happening in the future would be very useful.

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