Efforts to halt school strikes will go to wire
The union’s 18,000 members are due to picket more than 500 second-level schools next Thursday in a campaign for equal pay for younger teachers.
However, schools could remain shut for weeks after the mid-term break when a separate industrial action will see ASTI members stop supervising students outside class times, or substituting for absent colleagues from Monday, November 7.
As Education Minister Richard Bruton began a trade mission to China, returning tomorrow four days earlier than planned, his officials met ASTI leaders yesterday. But the talks had ended by lunchtime with the only agreement being to reconvene three days before the first strike date, and both sides remained tight-lipped about any progress .
“Discussions are to continue with a further meeting arranged for Monday next,” a Department of Education statement said.
At the same time, applications opened through the department for posts as supervisors at some of the schools likely to be affected and at risk of lengthy closure, including more than 40 community colleges run by education and training boards where ASTI and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members work side by side.
TUI members will be in a difficult position if strikes go ahead, as the absence of Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) sanction for the action means they do not have the same protections as they might have if they refuse to pass ASTI pickets.
“We can’t instruct a member not to pass a picket because we would not be in compliance with legislation. In order to secure a day’s pay, you have to be available for a day’s work, but if [you are not], you risk losing a day’s pay. But we will absolutely protect members from disciplinary action [that might arise],” TUI general secretary John MacGabhann said.
The list of schools on the Department of Education website was restricted to those in the ETB sector, but is being regularly updated and intending applicants must send the completed forms to a school or schools of their choice.
With concerns that the required vetting clearance from the Garda National Vetting Bureau may mean no supervisors can begin the work until early December, the department has notified ASTI that members whose schools are forced to close will not be paid for those days, even if they are available for their normal teaching duties.
ASTI told the this week that such a step would have to be considered by its 23-members standing committee.
Successful applicants will be trained for the duties involved in supervision students in classroom and during break periods, with pay rates of a minimum €38.36 a day for two hours’ work and €19.18 for each extra hour.
