Up to 100 Irish lecturers in Italian universities are fighting to end discriminatory conditions in their workplace. Last month Padraig Flynn, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, urged the Italian Government to continue its efforts to ensure the swift resolution of all outstanding problems in the long-running dispute over the rights of foreign language lecturers.

The 1,500 foreign language lecturers in Italy do not enjoy the same employment conditions as their Italian counterparts, despite having the support of the European Parliament and winning two European Court cases. Last month Flynn said: "I now expect those universities which have not yet done so to bring their contractual arrangements into line with the law, both Community and national, for the start of the 1998/99 academic year."

Henry Rodgers, spokesman for the Irish lecturers in Italy, welcomed the commissioner's intervention but many of his colleagues have already lost their jobs, he says.

In August the Italian government instructed all university rectors and directors of higher education institutions to resolve the dispute. If they do not implement proper employment practices, it's expected that the government will be brought before the European Court of Justice.