ASTI ‘available for talks’ to avert industrial action

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has said it remains available for talks without pre-conditions to avert planned industrial action which is set to close hundreds of schools in the weeks ahead.

The union’s president Ed Byrne said it was constantly talking to the Department of Education but there had been no real and meaningful dialogue to date because of the Government’s “slavish adherence to the mantra that the Lansdowne Road agreement was the only show in town”.

He said the parties should sit down and try to avert the strikes if they could.

“So far a mantra is all we have been given and I believe if true dialogue was to happen we may be able to find our way around this.”

The union is planning to stage seven days of strikes between Thursday October 27th and Wednesday December 7th in protest at lower pay rates for recently-qualified teachers.

Separately its 17,000 members are to withdraw from carrying out supervision and substitution duties from November 7th – a move which itself is likely to close schools on health and safety grounds unless adequate replacement personnel can be secured in time – due to the Government’s decision to withhold promised payment for this work.

The Government imposed financial penalties on ASTI members from the beginning of July including the forfeiture of incremental pay rises and about €800 in supervision and substitution payments as it considered it to have "repudiated" the Lansdowne Road public service agreement. This followed a move by the ASTI to cease carrying out 33 additional unpaid hours agreed originally as part of the Croke Park accord in 2010.

Mr Byrne described the planned strikes and industrial action as "just withdrawal of labour".

“Recently qualified teachers spend five to six years training, including obtaining the required Master’s qualification for teaching at second-level. They are then expected to teach alongside colleagues who have completely different pay arrangements for their entire careers. The sense of injustice amongst all teachers is palpable. ASTI members are committed to achieving equal pay for equal work for all teachers.”

‘No imagination’

Mr Byrne said the Government’s adherence to the mantra of the Lansdowne road deal being the only show in town “showed no imagination” and did not deal with the union’s issues.

“ We have an issue where young and not-so-young teachers are being paid a totally different level of pay.”

He said the Government had come some way along the road in a recent deal with other teaching unions, the INTO and TUI “but they did not outline when they expect once more to have a common basic pay scale”.

“I think that is where we need to start . . . [and] talk about when they intend giving the newly-qualified teachers the same pay and conditions as those longer in the job.”

As part of the recent deal with the INTO and TUI, teachers will receive a pay boost of €2,000 over the next year or so.

The Government contended this initiative as well as other increases due under the Lansdowne Road accord would see the starting salaries of INTO/TUI new entrant members rise by 15 per cent by January 2018.

The deal with the INTO and TUI was conditional on the unions accepting the Lansdowne Road accord and agreeing to implementing some reforms.

Mr Byrne said ASTI members had democratically rejected Lansdowne Road but that this had been met “with an extreme and hostile reaction by Government including targeting young teachers’ access to job security”.

Mr Byrne said the ASTI would not be giving strike pay to its members during the forthcoming dispute.

He said the Government had had about 10 weeks notice to put contingency arrangements in place to deal with its planned withdrawal from supervision and substitution duties and that this was adequate time to make alternative arrangements.