ASTI industrial action set to begin

Schools and students face disruption from tomorrow as industrial action by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) commences.

With work meetings outside school hours banned and up to 16,000 teachers under union instructions not to do unpaid administration, the main pressure will be on school management and principals. Some class trips during school time could also be cancelled because of uncertainty over supervision arrangements, as ASTI says teachers are no longer obliged to cover for colleagues absent on school business.

Any meetings moved into school hours could lead to reduced class time at the 500 schools where ASTI teachers work, although management bodies are recommending that boards postpone for now any rearranged meetings.

An ASTI spokeswoman said: “It looks inevitable the action will begin on Wednesday. We have to cause some level of disruption but what we are trying to do is minimise it and manage the disruption in some way.

“The only thing that could possibly prevent that is an opportunity for us to enter some kind of talks process that we felt was committed to addressing issues of concern.”

While the effects of the action will be monitored by school managers and the Government, the union could be forced to escalate the dispute very shortly. With all other public service unions signed up to the deal, there is no sign of the Department of Education, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, or the Labour Relations Commission even considering talks. The union spokesperson said it is impossible to say what might trigger such an escalation or how long it would be before that would happen. Uncertainty hangs over payments due to colleagues at 120 schools which also have Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members on staff.

Having voted last month to accept the Haddington Road deal, TUI members who started working since 2011 are entitled to automatic pay increases worth up to €2,500 a year, while all those due an increment this year should now have it paid the same as other public servants signed up to the agreement.

While the Department of Education is finalising a circular letter to authorise these and other aspects of the deal this week, it is unclear how it can distinguish which teachers are due pay increases. Asked about this yesterday, the department said it “is continuing to examine the impact of the ASTI ballot”.

A TUI spokesperson said members are covered by the Haddington Road Agreement since it has registered its acceptance of the deal.

However, it is awaiting a response to a number of queries to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner on the issue. That office said it has not been in contact with the Department of Education around this question.

In 2000, then education minister Michael Woods had to repay wages docked from striking ASTI members as the use of information in his department’s payroll section to deduct union subscriptions had breached data protection law.

Retirees cast votes

More than 1,100 retired teachers had votes in the decisive ballot that led to tomorrow’s industrial action.

The 16,867 ballot papers sent to ASTI members on whether or not to back the Haddington Road deal included 1,129 that went to emeritus members. These are teachers who are retired but, because they continue to pay union dues, are entitled to vote in some ballots.

Analysis of the returns on this and the industrial action ballot, which emeritus members did not have a vote in, suggest that almost 400 retired teachers voted on the agreement.

The outcome of the Haddington Road vote was 63% against the deal, but it drops to 61% of working teachers if 390 retired teachers took part and they all voted against. Another scenario, although highly unlikely to be the case, is that the result includes returns from all 1,128 emeritus ASTI members and they all rejected the agreement, which would mean there was just 58% opposition among non-retired teachers.

An ASTI spokesperson said it is difficult to estimate how many retired teachers actually voted or how they voted, but that there is no evidence their participation had a big influence on the outcome.

While the substantive result is not altered, the figures raise questions about how well the ballot reflects true feelings on the ground.

The 5,777 ASTI members who voted to reject Haddington Road represent 34% of the entire membership. But that falls to 29.5% if it includes all 1,128 retired teachers voting against the deal.