'A shocking attack has been launched on the jobs, terms and conditions of the lecturing staff at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) on Francis Street in Dublin 8.'
Of the 135 lecturing staff, 53 are being laid off, and in their place BIMM management plan to create a new casualised lecturer grade with much lower pay than their counterparts in the third level sector. These workers have not received a pay increase in 12 years and now face a halving of their pay.
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said 'This is undoubtedly the start of a new race to the bottom that, if BIMM get away with it, will spread a new casualised grade across third level education institutions and threaten the pay and conditions for all third level lecturers and staff. I urge workers across the higher education sector to stand with BIMM teachers and staff to make sure this attack is defeated.
While BIMM is a private college, it operates under a formal partnership with Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), and BIMM receives several million in funding from TU Dublin. Therefore the Minister for Higher Education, James Lawless, has a decisive role in protecting BIMM staff.'
Richard Boyd Barrett TD said, 'I was on the picket line with BIMM workers earlier today, and later this evening I will be raising the issue in the Dáil with the Minister. I will also ask the Minister how BIMM can be allowed to cut jobs and worsen conditions while operating within a publicly supported framework. I will demand that the Minister intervenes, as a matter of urgency, to stop what BIMM is doing and to ensure the jobs, the pay and the conditions of the college’s lecturers are protected.'