Government ‘overreacted’ when ASTI rejected pay deal

The government has overreacted to the ASTI's decision not to sign up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, says president-elect of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland Ed Byrne.

“The government completely overreacted over supervision and substitution. Our members had been doing it free of charge on the understanding that they would be paid at a later stage. But the government said that’s not going to happen now.

“If we’re not going to be paid for it, we’re not going to do it. That’s not going to close down schools, the last time this happened, it was the Boards of Management of schools who did so for health and safety reasons.”

Mr Byrne’s comments come on the same day thousands of rank and file gardaí and second level teachers will have financial penalties imposed on them by the Government.

Hundreds of teachers were scheduled to receive incremental pay rises in July and August, but the sanctions are being imposed on members of the ASTI and the GRA as the organisations rejected the Lansdowne Road agreement, which is the cornerstone of the Government’s public service pay policy.

The two organisations had signed up to the previous Haddington Road agreement, but it – and the protections it afforded to public servants – expired on Thursday night.

"No school will shut because we don't work the extra 33 hours, they don't impinge on school hours," Mr Byrne told RTE's Morning Ireland.

He said it was completely unacceptable that the ASTI’s hands would be tied for a further two years on the issue of pay for newly qualified teachers.

“The Lansdowne Road Agreement is silent on newly qualified teachers. Our hands would be tied for a further two years.

“We cannot go back September after September to a situation where some colleagues are doing the same work but being paid less.

“It is a meta agreement, it is a labyrinth – impossible to get out of. It doesn’t deal with cross-sectoral issues, we should have the right to discuss specific issues with our employer.”