“PWO raises serious concerns on university spending”

Student advocacy has seen something of a resurgence over the last number of years, walkouts and demonstrations being the main weapons used.

An A4 piece of paper was stuck onto the exterior of TSI calling for attention. The group responsible for the poster is the PWO (The Postgraduate Workers Organisation).

This organisation staged a protest in TSI last year with the aim of advocating for a living wage, sick leave and parental leave for their membership who represent postgraduates in universities, whose aim is very clear when you view their social media accounts.

A key issue for the group is to advocate for their membership to receive good pay, good working conditions and aid in research opportunities.

Only when you scan the QR code on it does the full picture come to light.

The headline of the poster was the figure of €500,000 with a picture of the University’s President, Eeva Leinonen. The QR code will redirect you to a procurement website in which companies can bid for public contracts and in this case, a contract for a taxi service has been put out to tender.

When you look at this page, which is open for anyone to read, the description is quite alarming. The service required is a taxi service for several Maynooth University staff who would be deemed as “priority” with no “wait time”.

Also, it will not offer the driver compensation for any wait time if they were to arrive early to fulfil the requirement of no wait time for the “priority” members of staff.

When the numbers are put under some scrutiny, €5000,000 over 48 months translates to €10,416.6.

Further reading of the document will show that there is no EU funding for this project.