Trinity College staff picketed the College on November 24 in the national day of protest for the public service sector.

The College was severely disrupted by the one day work stoppage. All lectures and labs were cancelled on the day due to an ‘unacceptably high’ risk to health and safety. The College said that it carried out an assessment of risk to health and safety and the professional advice was that lectures and labs should be cancelled. 

The stoppage was the result of a national day of protest with many of the College staff participating or supporting the protest. The lecturers’ union Ifut says that it ‘expects that there will be huge support for the one day strike’ and ‘nearly all non-academic and back up staff will support the stoppage so it is hard to see how the University can function in any normal way.’

The Chief Operating Officer of the College sent an email to all staff and students saying that ‘several categories of staff will be absent by choice from work’ on November 24. 

From 7am to midnight on November 24 access for vehicles and pedestrians was via the Pearse St gate only. All the other gates were locked and secured from normal closing time on Monday, November 23. 

The Registrar of Chamber informed residents that ‘overnight guest arrangements are suspended for the nights of Monday, November 23 and Tuesday, November 24.’ College residents were not able to sign in guest to their rooms.

 As well as causing the cancellation of all lectures and labs on the day, the strike, caused the closure of most of the College services and facilities. 

The library was closed because of the strike as there was a lack of staff to open and run the library services. However, the new twenty-four hour study space remained open for students to study in.

The Department of Sport also closed the sports centre and told those that had bookings on the day to contac t the centre to make alternative arrangements. The College Catering Service or Information System Services helpdesk was not open. 

The College Health and Counselling Services were available to deal with cases requiring urgent assistance.

Other colleges were affected by the strike including UCD which said ‘some students had assessments and/or assignment submissions scheduled.’ UCC was scheduled to close because of the strike but due to the flooding the college will remain closed and the staff will help out with flood relief.

A facebook event was set up to encourage students to ‘to take advantage of the lack of grounds men, staff, security and tourists and enjoy Trinity’s grounds to the full.’

A full report of the security measures are not yet available but are expected to be forthcoming.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has released a statement saying that it supports the strikes by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu). The USI’s president Peter Mannion says ‘we are impelling the students of Ireland to demand a better future for themselves. Our students will be tomorrow’s graduates and any changes in pay or working conditions in the public sector will directly affect them in years to come.’

The national day of protest not only affected colleges, all Siptu members: nurses, teachers, government and State employees including fire, ambulance and emergency workers joined the strike and picketed their places of employment for the day.

Unions representing public sector workers, including Siptu, have argued that Government plans to take a further €1.3 billon in costs out of the public service through a six pint eight five per cent pay cut and reductions in pensions are both ‘unfair and counter-productive.’

Ifut say that ‘it is important to note that even though the primary issue at this time is the threat to make even more cuts to the pay of those working in the University (and the wider public service), our members are also angry at the underfunding of the Higher Education sector.’