GMIT disabilities workers treated as ‘second class’

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – When GMIT President Orla Flynn stepped out of a meeting last Thursday morning and checked her emails on her smartphone, a storm was brewing. She had been ‘copied’ in an email sent by disgruntled support staff in the college’s Access Office.

It was the first Dr Flynn had heard of their employment contract issues. It shouldn’t have been – their gripes have been known to senior management at the Dublin Road institute for years.

The support staff, who assist students with disabilities, feel they are treated as second class among the GMIT workforce.

They include academic tutors, learning support tutors, assistive technology tutors, note-takers, educational support workers, and signers for deaf people.

And a group of them are in what might politely be termed ‘precarious employment’. Or as one of them put it to the Galway City Tribune: “We’re treated like sh*t”.

For some who are not in a trade union, the issues haven’t been addressed for a decade or more. The list of problems was relayed to Dr Flynn and management in the email sent last Thursday, which was seen by this newspaper.

“We don’t get paid for sick leave. We have no entitlements. We don’t even have job descriptions. We don’t have a pay scale.

“We won’t have pensions. We never know from year to year what working hours we will have or if we will even have work. We don’t have office space or even a place to leave our coats and bags,” it said.

They believe they are unique in how they are been treated at GMIT – no other cohort of worker has so few entitlements. And it’s impacting morale.

“We were told before Christmas that this was their priority for next year but it was their priority last year as well and nothing happened. I don’t think you realise just how soul-destroying our situation is. The morale among Access and disability staff is on the floor,” confided one worker, who would only speak on condition of anonymity.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.