Secondary schools may face widespread industrial action

Schools may face widespread industrial action next autumn if teachers in the two main second-level unions vote this week to stop working additional hours agreed under the Croke Park deal.

The three main teachers’ unions will this week all hear motions at their annual conferences to improve the pay, working hours and conditions of employment.

Acting Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan has decided not to attend any of the conferences on the basis that it would be inappropriate to engage on policy issues while a new government is being formed.

Both the ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland) and the TUI (Teachers’ Union of Ireland) are due to debate motions which – if passed – would place them on a collision course with the Government over pay and productivity reforms.

Under the Croke Park deal agreed in 2010, teachers are obliged to work an extra 33 hours a year and to carry out 43 hours of supervision and substitution duties.

Pay deal

At its annual convention in Cork, ASTI branches from

Dungarvan

, Kilkenny, Longford, west

Mayo

and

Wicklow

will propose to direct teachers to stop working the additional hours when the pay deal expires at the end of June.

Similarly, seven TUI branches at its convention in Kerry will propose a motion urging the union to ensure extra working hours agreed under Croke Park will be ended.

Under emergency financial measures agreed by the current Government, serious financial penalties could be placed on teachers who do not co-operate with these productivity measures.

Teachers could lose out on pay rises as they move up the pay scale until July 2018.

These can range from several hundred euro to more than €2,000, depending on where an employee is on the scale.

The planned payment of nearly €1,600 to each teacher for supervision and substitution duties could also be affected if the union is considered to be in breach of the agreement.

These payments are due to be introduced from September.

The ASTI will also debate a motion which seeks to direct members not to assess their own students under junior cycle reforms.

If adopted, this could further entrench the union’s opposition to reforms which the Government has sought to introduce for several years.

The TUI voted last year to accept junior cycle reforms.

The INTO (Irish National Teachers' Organisation) congress in Wexford, which gets under way this afternoon, will be dominated by educational and industrial relations issues of concern to primary teachers.

Major issue

These include pay and conditions of employment of newly qualified teachers, which is a major issue for primary school teachers in particular.

While all teachers had their pay cut under emergency legislation in 2010, newly qualified teachers had their pay reduced by an additional 14 per cent the following year.

The government at the time argued this cost-cutting measure was a necessity in a time of economic peril.

The INTO’s official policy is to equalise teachers’ pay scales through seeking a preferential increase for teachers affected by these cuts until pay is equalised.

The INTO, which is the only teachers union to sign up to the Lansdowne Road pay agreement, argues that it has made progress and helped secure changes that will cut career losses from more than €250,000 to €90,000.

“Together we will address this injustice through future pay claims, negotiation and deals,” a spokesman said ahead of the conference.

The TUI, which rejected the Lansdowne Road deal, will also hear motions calling for a restoration of pay scales, as will the ASTI.

Three motions will be debated at its annual convention to demand the restoration of a common pay scale for all teachers.

“There is a huge sense of injustice in relation to this, not only among young teachers but also their colleagues,” an ASTI spokeswoman said.