IT IS, perhaps, ironic that the symbol of the 45 year old National College of Industrial Relations in Ranelagh, Dublin, should be a pair of clasped hands because, when examined in the light of current events in the college, it looks remarkably like the business end of an arm wrestling match between two determined opponents, in this case the college and its students' union.
It is doubly ironic that a college which professes proficiency on industrial relations matters and includes on its governing body Bill Attley, general secretary of SIPTU, Peter Cassells, general secretary of the ICTU and Phil Flynn, president of IMPACT, should be accused of "union bashing" by both its own students' union and USI.
The current dispute is a complicated one, but centres around the division of capitation money between the college and the students' union. Last year it was agreed by both parties that capitation should be increased from £8 to £30 for full time students from 1995/96 and from £7 to £8 for part time students.
At the start of this academic year, the students' union was presented with a breakdown of capitation distribution, despite the fact that a proposed capitation committee had never been established. It was informed that it would receive 30 per cent of capitation money, approximately £11,000, and the rest would be divided between clubs (20 per cent), societies (20 per cent) and the recently established student services office (30 per cent).
The union protested that it had never agreed to any such division, that there was no evidence of any such agreement, and that £11,000 would barely cover insurance and USI affiliation. According to the NCIR's registrar, Bernard O'Brien, the capitation process is "student friendly" and the college's door has always been open for a resolution of the dispute. "It is about trying to ensure that the students' union, the clubs and societies and the student activities get the funding that is required," he says.
The union, claiming that it was strapped for cash, instead called in USI and its legal advisers, who told the union to hold an emergency general meeting to ask the student body how it wanted its money to be divided.
At the meeting students voted to hand over the entire £30 to the union. The college decided to ignore the wishes of the students and reached an odd decision: it would return £22, the difference between the old capitation fee and the new one, to each full time student individually rather than hand it over to the union. This decision was based on the view that the college had a contract with the individual students rather than with the union, and that students could hand the money over to the students' union if they wished.
Last week the dispute went one step further: the college informed students how they could go about collecting their £22 and, in response, the students' union organised a general meeting at which students individually signed forms requesting that the money be handed over to the students' union. Students then reiterated this decision with a mass walkout.
The decision by the college to hand back the £22 could be problematical. Many of its students are in receipt of grants and, in such cases, the £22 being returned to students is not their money but the taxpayers' money, paid on the understanding that it would be used for its stated purpose and not as some sort of "top up" on student grants.
It is unlikely that the Department of Education will look with undiluted favour on such a move, although O'Brien says he is unable to give an "absolute definition" on this argument. It also indicates a strange inability on the part of what are supposed to be industrial relations experts to solve a simple internal dispute.
Finally, the NCIR's own students' union claims it is effectively being impoverished, having so far received only £8,967 and being unable to operate its student hardship fund, which assists students in financial difficulties.
"The college seems to view the students and the students' union as two separate entities, but by taking this action against the union they are effectively penalising all the students in the college," said NCIR students' union president Marty Whelan.
"It is bitterly ironic that patrons of the NCIR are representatives of trade unions and to be associated with such hostile behaviour towards a representative union is unheard of and disgraceful," said USI president Colm Keaveney.
The trade union members of the governing body can probably mount a reasonable defence on the basis that up to last Monday the governing body had not met since October, following changes in the regulations which necessitate only one meeting per term.
Since that last governing body meeting, the NCIR has appointed Bernard O'Brien as registrar of the college.
O'Brien was originally taken on as manager of the Centre for Educational Opportunity, a joint initiative between UCD and the NCIR, but he found himself promoted to the post of acting registrar following the sudden departure of Dr Miriam Hederman O'Brien from that position.
Hederman O'Brien, who headed the inquiry into the disastrous running of Letterkenny RTC in 1994, resigned as registrar after only a few weeks in office, citing other work commitments.
O'BRIEN is faced with a number of problems, which he describes as "problems of success, problems of growth. We've been very successful in attracting students and we do need addition space and premises and facilities. That's a problem of our success."
The college is afflicted by serious overcrowding, although its traditional defence is that it is a growing college and is addressing these problems.
The planning application was a disaster for the NCIR, attracting objections from sources as diverse as An Taisce, the local Church of Ireland, the Irish Georgian Society, Dublin Tourism and ironically, the nearby Jesuit Gonzaga College the Jesuits originally established and owned the NCIR and before handing it over to an independent trust representative mainly of employers and trade unions. It is still surrounded by Jesuit land and shares an entrance driveway with Gonzaga. The application was finally refused on appeal last July.
The college is now examining a number of other options. It is thought to be interested in moving entirely, with one possibility being the purchase of part of St Ann's School in Milltown most of which is already in the hands of developers. The [money required could come from the sale by the trust of its current premises but they would probably also need an injection of funds from the Department of Education. According to O'Brien no decision has been made on the options under examination and more research is needed.
This is unlikely to solve the NCIR's immediate problems.
The college's BA in European Business and Languages is being run despite the lack of adequate language facilities in the college. The college has a Certificate in Disability Studies, yet has come under attack from the students' union for the lack of facilities for students with disabilities.
The college houses the grandly named Centre for Independent Living for students with disabilities, yet when E&L visited it found a small prefabricated hut which did not even have a ramp for wheelchairs. Instead, two grubby planks bridged the high step up to the door.
When the union raised the alleged lack of disabled facilities with the college authorities it received an unintentionally funny reply from student services officer Eileen Punch. According to her the college was accessible to students with disabilities "apart from the rooms upstairs".
The students' union is now threatening an all out strike amid claims that it is receiving written complaints about the running of the college.
The college's president Professor Joyce O'Connor who has recently resumed active duties following a period of absence due to illness has done much good work for the NCIR, but its present difficulties are doing little for the public image of a college which its critics claim is struggling to practice what it preaches.
