Sir, I write this letter in the knowledge that the Irish National Teachers Organisation has accepted the "deal" worked out with the Department of Education. I believe this to be one of the most retrograde steps taken by our organisation in a considerable period of time. I am proud to say that I'm a member of the Dublin North West branch which voted by 69 per cent to 31 per cent to reject this woolly deal offered to the members. Our branch refused to sell the soul of the organisation for a miserly couple of pounds.
Why is Joe O'Toole, our general secretary, reneging on promises made to the members? Hem stated quite clearly that no deal would be put to the membership, until panel rights had been secured for temporary teachers after three years' service. In the deal there is no mention of equal panel rights but merely a second strand arrangement, whereby they will have panel rights when the existing panel is cleared. I ask, when is a teacher not a teacher, and when is a promise not a promise?
I hope the irony of the situation is not lost on Mr O'Toole, that in the week in which our branch was asked to vote through a deal, which involves working IS extra hours per year, for virtually nothing (and absolutely nothing in the case of members below the 8th point of the scale), we were also told that we would have to help pay the £100m pound fine levied on the country due to misconduct in the beef industry. Let the message continue to be sent to the power brokers of our organisation, that it is time to take "the monkey" off the backs of Irish primary school teachers.
Probably the most divisive aspect of this "deal" is the payment of the equivalent of a degree allowance to primary teachers with no degrees. While I have no objection to any teacher receiving more money, to grant allowances on this basis is to make a mockery out of my degree. I now know what the people who negotiated this deal, think of my B Ed degree. Yes, it isn't worth the paper it's written on. The people who exercised their own initiative and acquired both BA and B Ed degrees down through the years, must be bitterly disappointed. No great bonus for effort in this deal, and to think these people paid for it out of their own pockets. How can an organisation maintain its credibility in future negotiations when it is prepared to carry on with such utter nonsense? We are told it is to remove inequities in the system. I say, tell that to the people below the 8th point on the salary scale.
Sadly, there are many schools in the Dublin North West branch, particularly disadvantaged schools, where people's working conditions and morale will not be improved one iota by this deal. A sizeable percentage of people throughout the country voted against this deal and rightly so as it is so full of anomalies, it is hard to believe it ever saw the light of day. In conclusion I ask the question are the interests of the members of many of the Dublin branches and other large city branches being best served by the present structures of the INTO? Yours, etc., (member of Dublin North West Branch INTO), Calderwood Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.