It was announced on Monday that a meeting will be held later in the week between the government and the unions representing the academic staff at the University and the Junior College. This is good news. Both sides have already agreed on the terms of the collective agreement bar its financial considerations. The unions are saying that the salaries they are asking for tally with the new vision for the University. On the other hand, the government is describing the unions' demands as unrealistic.
Up till now there has been an amount of sable rattling from both sides. The unions directed their members to boycott the inauguration ceremony and to strike on the first day of lectures. This is an acceptable action quite unlike the directive the unions had given last June when they instructed their members to withhold the giving of exam marks to students.
The government had set an ultimatum for the unions to accept its counterproposals. This was an unwise move. Positions tend to harden when an ultimatum is served. It seems that the government has not insisted on its demand.
The government then published the remuneration package the unions were negotiating for. The figures published show that the unions were asking that the remuneration of a professor would increase from the current €37,800 to €69,000 in 2009 and to €86,000 in 2014. It is true that, as the unions rightly pointed out, this amount includes the salary and the performance bonus; but it is also true that, up till now, most members of the academic staff always received the full performance bonus. Are the unions now doubting whether this will keep on being the case if a more stringent assessment regime is introduced?
It is also interesting to note that the unions are asking the University to increase the gap between those members of the academic staff at the highest rung of the scale and those at the lower end. The gap between a professor and an assistant lecturer with MA is €13,500. According to the figures published by the government, the unions want to raise this gap to over €46,000 annually. Is it normal for a union to try and increase the pay gap so much between its own members?
The unions have in the meantime submitted another proposal, which they described as meeting the government "half way", whatever that means. Does this mean that the package has been substantially altered?
On the other hand, the unions are justified in pointing out that the government has already agreed to a generous pay packet to doctors, thus opening the way to similar demands from other professionals. Let's face it, a lot depends on the professors' and lecturers' input in terms of what the University produces.
The gap between what the unions are asking for and what the government has offered so far is by no means small. Perhaps one can compromise on an increase in the performance bonus, which will then be rigorously tested and tied to teaching, research, publishing and one's contribution to the community understood in a very wide sense. In this way the most deserving in all grades would be better remunerated.
A large dose of good sense and lateral thinking is needed on both sides in order to strike a deal. The very valid contribution of the academic staff should not be brushed aside and neither should the needs of the country.