Summertime is here and many people working in colleges and universities are looking forward to a somewhat slower pace as we prepare for the next academic year.  But did you know that hundreds, maybe even thousands of lecturers, tutors, and researchers face a very different reality come May/June as it’s the time of the year where their top priority is difficult discussions with social welfare officers as they do their best to explain why, despite often working for years in the university sector, they must sign on the dole for the summer months.  Yes, that’s right - the person you pass on the corridor, or the lecturer you hear students praise from another module might be on a pay-by-the-hour contract meaning when there are no classes, they don’t get paid.  Even if they do return to campus in September it is often without the benefits that their colleagues enjoy, including access to university resources including tech, library, labs, without inclusion on staff email lists to be kept in the loop, and without sick pay, study leave and other benefits held by their permanent colleagues. 
 
IFUT want to do something about this situation and have created a Precarious Employment Campaign Steering Group to address this, and the many issues facing non-permanent staff which also include the absence of sick leave, being excluded from strategic planning spaces and even being locked out of staff canteens.  If this is your story, join IFUT today so you can join with others fighting for better working conditions, if this isn’t you just pause for a while and imagine that conversation with social welfare. Signing on is not what our members signed up for.  We demand decent work for all workers in Higher Education.