Principals wait on ASTI decision
A deal has been brokered between the Department of Education and the other two teachers unions on making the work payments pensionable. It is though an ASTI meeting in Dublin on Saturday will call a national ballot on whether to resume the duties The governing bodies of the Teachers Union of Ireland and the Irish National Teachers Organisation are expected to approve the deal put forward by facilitator Tom Pomphrett on Tuesday.
The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), whose annual conference opens in Killarney today, saybelieve this is a move in the right direction.
“The difficulties with the other unions appear to have been ironed out ,” said Ger Looney, NAPD president.
The burden of recruiting, training and overseeing the hundreds of outside supervisors has been felt by principals, particularly in voluntary secondary schools and those VEC schools with TUI and ASTI members.
ASTI general secretary Charlie Lennon welcomed the conclusion of the matter with the other unions.
“This should mean we will have something concrete for delegates to consider on Saturday, which should make it easier to decide whether the package is acceptable or not,” he said.
The deal means teachers will have two years to decide to enter the supervision and substitution scheme worth almost 1,400 a year to each teacher, and pensionable if they sign up permanently.
New teachers will be given one year in which to make the same decision.
Mr Pomphrett, a senior Labour Relations Commission official, was brought in to help the unions and department officials reach agreement on how to make the payment pensionable.
Some 450 delegates from ASTI’s 56 branches will meet at the RDS on Saturday to decide several issues.
