Rolling strikes may hit schools if ASTI rejects settlement

Rolling strikes and non-co-operation with school inspections are some of the measures being considered by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) if members reject a fresh proposed settlement.

The ASTI is to ballot its 17,000 members in January over fresh proposals aimed at ending its industrial across a number of fronts.

The union’s 180-member central executive has recommended that members reject the proposals following a meeting at the weekend.

Ed Byrne, the union’s president, said teachers have suffered “savage cutbacks” and the executive’s belief was that the proposals are not acceptable and should be rejected by members.

While no decision has been taken on potential industrial action, he said a number of options were available.

“Rolling strikes in one option . . . but we want to minimise disruption to out students,” he said,

“We will look at disrupting the Department of Education, rather than students. We co-operate with the inspectorate and school inspections, for example; we might have a look at inconveniencing the department rather than anything that will affect students.”

The ASTI is involved in industrial action over working additional hours, new entrant pay rates, supervision and substitution duties and junior cycle reform. These disputes led to the closure of hundreds of secondary schools for three days in October and November.

Proposals

Settlement proposals were drawn up last week after weeks of talks with the Department of Education, chaired by the Teachers’ Conciliation Council .

Under the proposed deal, new entrant teachers would receive pay increases of up to 22 per cent over the next 18 months, while a new “opt-out” would be available for teachers who do not wish to provide supervision and substitution cover.

Incremental pay increases would be restored, as would payment for supervision and substitution duty.

In exchange, ASTI members would have to agree to cease their industrial action and work additional “Croke Park” hours.

The union’s leadership has been told these proposals are a “final offer” and a failure to accept would result in a range of harsh penalties.

These include teachers losing thousands of euro in lost increments, loss of access to posts of responsibility along with the removal of improved access to job security for young teachers.

If the deal is turned down, it is likely to impact on thousands of junior cycle students in schools staffed by members of the ASTI, students who face losing 10 per cent in their English exams. This is linked to the ASTI ban on co-operating with classroom-based assessments.

Assessment

While a deadline for completing an assessment worth 10 per cent of their English exam is due to expire this month, the proposed settlement would allow students a second chance to undertake this task over the coming months.

Mr Byrne said, however, the union had fundamental problems with reforms to the Junior Cert and the Minister for Education had the power to prevent students being penalised.

Mr Byrne said a series of one-day strikes and a withdrawal from supervision and substitution duties – which saw hundreds of schools closed – remained “in abeyance”.

However, he said these measures could be reactivated or that action in another form may be instigated in the future.

“That decision will be talked through in December and into January when the ballot is likely to take place,” he said. “The result of the ballot will decide on exactly what would happen in relation to reactivation.”

He said members would have full information before they voted on what would happen in relation to strikes or other industrial action if they rejected the settlement proposals.

The meeting of the union’s central executive on Saturday did consider proposals to dismiss the settlement proposals out of hand without putting them to a ballot of members, but this was rejected by 71 votes to 58.

A two-thirds majority would have been needed to reject the settlement proposals without a ballot of members.