SERVICES for 22,000 students at the Dublin Institute of Technology could be disrupted next week because of industrial action by IMPACT. The union has served strike notice for Thursday next on behalf of 200 clerical and administrative staff.
The dispute is over staffing levels and this is the third time that IMPACT has threatened a strike within the last 12 months. However, its assistant general secretary, Mr Ray Ryan, says IMPACT would not call off the action unless a substantive offer was made before the deadline.
Union and management representatives have agreed in principle to accept an independent assessor's report that 100 extra permanent posts should be created. This would mean a net increase of about 60, after existing temporary staff are either given permanent positions or replaced.
The assessor's report was completed last September, but it is understood that the Department of Finance has so far refused to sanction the extra funding needed.
If the strike goes ahead library services for students and academic staff would be the only facility immediately affected, but a prolonged dispute would probably lead to the closure of the affiliated colleges.