Teachers’ union considers next move

Secondary schools face an administrative headache in the wake of the rejection of the Haddington Road deal by teachers’ union ASTI — but pupils are not expected to be directly affected.

The standing committee of the 17,000-strong union meets today to consider the action to be taken following the rejection of the deal by a two-thirds majority.

ASTI general secretary Pat King said that while action taken at the initial stages was likely to cause administrative headaches in schools, he hoped students would not be directly affected.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr King said it was likely that the union would target commitments made under the Croke Park Agreement.

If the Government had torn up the Croke Park agreement and cut pay, they would have to respond by removing a commitment to work extra hours. “That will probably affect administration work, planning work and meetings after hours. I don’t think, certainly in the initial stages, it will have a direct effect on students,” he said.

He said he did not know what difficulties would be created by action taken by the union but that it had to react to a pay cut imposed by the Government.

The Government has insisted there will be no re-negotiation of the Haddington Road agreement.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton insisted yesterday that there was no leeway to reopen the talks. “No, that has been clear from the outset,” he said. “The Government have made decisions on that and now we are implementing those changes. We’re trying to make sure that we can deliver on the frontline. People have had to make changes; these are agreed changes and we’re implementing them.”

But Mr King said he did not accept that there would be no talks. “All disputes end up in resolution following talks and I would be amazed if either side said they would never talk again.”

Mr King said ASTI members had looked at the possible outcome of their decision, including the risk of losing jobs.

“They weighted up the implications and they took a very clear decision and I have to respect that,” he said.

Mr King said he hoped strike action would not be taken, but the potential was there for a strike: “Initially, the target will be administrative work. Maybe at some point it (strike action) might be necessary, but I hope not.”

General secretary of the Education and Training Board, Michael Moriarty, said the organisation operated over 130 schools where both TUI and ASTI members worked together and ASTI’s position would create difficulties.

He described a “nightmare scenario” of strike action being taken by ASTI, with TUI colleagues refusing to pass a picket.

Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, which represents boards of management at the 370 voluntary secondary schools where the vast majority of ASTI members work, said: “We would hope that we could all work together to ensure continuity of teaching and learning for the pupils.”