The undersigned have written to express our concerns over the unfair working environment that prevails at NUI Galway and the continued exploitation of doctoral candidates and post-doctoral researchers for teaching across NUI Galway.   

We are concerned about the increasing tendency to rely on the precarious and, often unpaid, labour of PhD and Post-Doctoral Researchers to cover ever more diverse teaching needs across the university’s schools and departments. The tendency to rely on contracted and temporary staff for essential student services endangers academic excellence and has detrimental effects for staff and students. These exploitative practices have become widespread at NUI Galway over the last number of years.

Teaching is a skilled activity, which is at the core of the university’s mission as a centre for learning. Indeed, NUI Galway prides itself as a centre for excellence in teaching, learning and research. Fair remuneration, support, and training of all teachers should be a University priority to ensure the best delivery of high-quality education.

Research conducted by PhD and post-doctoral candidates is also highly valuable to the university, contributing to the university’s knowledge economy, attracting prestigious funding and boosting the university’s reputation internationally. Nevertheless, teaching, particularly the number of hours doctoral and post-doctoral candidates are required to perform, with often minimal support from their departments and schools, places a significant extra work burden  on postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers,which directly impacts their ability to conduct their research.

Much of this teaching is unpaid or underpaid, particularly when accounting for the hours spent preparing classes and correcting assignments. The scholarships provided by the university, and other entities, do not even constitute minimum wage, and barely cover Galway’s high cost of living, particularly due to the high rents caused by the housing crisis. This unpaid, or poorly paid, teaching adds a further financial burden to many postgraduate researchers already struggling to make ends meet.

Teaching and related academic duties are separate from the research they do as postgraduate researchers—it is work, and as such, should not be demanded as a requirement in PhD scholarships. The stipulation that postgraduate students engage in 120 hours of unpaid teaching for three years threatens the quality of teaching and research in the university. The failure to pay postgraduates for their work, or the insistence in underpaying them, is blatant exploitation. All university teaching should be paid. Postgraduate research should be nurtured by the university and not be exploited as a source of unpaid labour.

PhD students in NUI Galway on the Structured PhD course, particularly those receiving the Galway Doctoral or Hardiman Scholarships, are pressured by University administration to provide 120 hours of unpaid teaching hours for at least three years.

The situation of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers will be further affected by the  COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis that is likely to ensue across all sectors of society and the economy, including delays to research and increased financial pressures. We recognise that the university will face major challenges in adapting the research, learning and teaching environment to the ever-changing scenario and public health recommendations, and we are committed to playing our part in this effort. Nevertheless, we are concerned by the lack of direct communication from university authorities to postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers regarding teaching arrangements and expectations for the coming academic year. Many postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers rely on teaching hours to subsidise scholarships and still have received no indication whether their teaching hours will be affected this year and/or the necessity of providing online classes. Finally, we would like to reiterate that, despite the looming financial crisis in the third level sector, postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers should be fairly paid for all teaching and related academic duties that are carried out.

In light of this situation we, the undersigned, demand the following: 

1. Fair payment for all teaching and related academic duties; 
2. Clear governance and transparency in decision making and implementing changes- including PhD/Post-Doc input and representation in those decision making processes;  
3. Improved transparency and communication between university administration and postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in light of the current crisis; 
4. PhD and Post-Doctoral researchers are workers and should be classified as such for duties we perform for the university and paid the appropriate collectively bargained rate;
5. Adequate support and training for PhD and Post-Doctoral teachers where they are providing teaching and related academic duties including corrections and lab demonstrations;
6. Standardised, fair, and transparent access to teaching opportunities for all PhD and Post-Doctoral researchers; 
7. PhD researchers  should not be compelled to take on teaching  duties, regardless of funding status;  
8. Clear and standardised payment rates, across schools, to be mapped against the appropriate, collectively bargained, Part-time Teaching Assistant (PTTA) timesheet rates;  
9. Access to facilities and resources to assist teaching, including printing, locker space, desk space, office space for office hours; and the proper equipment to conduct online demonstrations, if required due to COVID-19; 
10. Contracts for all workers involved in teaching or academic work, for all hours of teaching or related academic duties completed; clear and standardised definitions of ‘related academic duties’ in these contracts.