Socialist Party member Isidora Durán spoke with a lecturer from BIMM Music Institute, where staff face mass redundancies under what is cynically referred to as a new “restructuring plan”. Students and lecturers have organised a protest tomorrow at 1pm outside BIMM on Frances Street, Dublin 8.
Yesterday student protesters were chanting, ‘protect our lecturers, defend our education’ – as a lecturer yourself, what do you think inspired such solidarity between students and teachers at BIMM?
The vast majority of the lecturers in BIMM are musicians who are active in Irish music in various ways. For this reason, they are mostly people who are deeply committed to what they do and really keen to pass on their experience and enthusiasm to people interested in learning.. In my experience, students generally pick up on this energy – they are being taught by people who really believe in the value of what they are teaching. So I think the solidarity is a very natural result of the fact that the students and lecturers represent one community of creative musicians, who often work together after college etc. and who are very respectful of one another.
The proposed new employment structure is being described as the ‘uber-isation’ of lecturers. What can you tell us about working conditions for university staff?
BIMM has positioned itself as an employer that allows for flexibility for working musicians who may need to take out time for professional engagements such as touring/recording etc. It has used this position to circumvent employment rights in a number of ways, including through the use of zero-hour contracts (illegal since 2018), non-implementation of lecturer entitlements to CID (Contracts of Indefinite Duration), among other issues. Around 18 months ago, in the aftermath of some appalling cases for individual staff where these issues came to a head, a significant number of lecturers joined IFUT (Irish Federation of University Teachers) who agreed to represent the interests of the staff to BIMM management.. Engagement with IFUT led directly to the college addressing some of these issues in the short term, but it is difficult not to see the current attempt at restructuring as a method of undermining the security of employment for the majority of staff working at the college. Essentially, the provision of standard yearly contracts is being presented as a progressive move while effectively halving the hourly rate at which a lecturer is paid. On top of this, there are only 18 such roles currently on offer, with the rest of the teaching hours set to be filled by ‘Associate Lecturers’. This is where the ‘uber-isation’ comes in: these individuals will be essentially freelance and treated as self-employed contractors by BIMM in the future, unable to accrue any of the attendant employment protections that go with a steady position.
IFUT members are balloting for strike action. The private equity fund that owns BIMM has refused to engage with union representatives. What are lecturer’s thoughts on the next steps, and how could students show their solidarity?
Staff are hopeful that the threat of strike action will for the BIMM management to engage in meaningful discussions to improve the package that’s currently being proposed. If they fail to do so, teaching hours may be affected by work stoppages. There has already been a great outpouring of support from students. What is needed is for the strength of that support to remain consistent over the next few weeks through in-person demonstrations of support and through online discussions of what is happening. In particular, prospective students should have all the information made available to them in relation to how this would impact their studies.
Art and culture are consistently underfunded by the state. The proposed closure of Pálás cinema in Galway is another example of this. In 2021, campaigners from ‘Dublin is Dying’ saved the Cobblestone from being turned into a hotel – do you think with the way things are going, there will be similar community campaigns in the future?
I am hopeful that there will be!
In the first instance, it’s disappointing that such actions are so urgently needed in so many areas of culture.
As regards our own situation: BIMM is an educational institution that is in receipt of public funds, entrusted with the education of our future artists. It is a sad state of affairs when the public has to be mobilised to ensure that they discharge their duty in a way that meets the basic sectoral standard for their workers and for their students. It may however be necessary.
