ASTI members face wait on vote to rejoin ICTU

THE members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland are to vote on rejoining the Irish Congress of Trade Unions but a vote might not take place for several months.

The decision to ballot members was taken yesterday at the ASTI annual convention and is a significant step for the union, which withdrew from Congress five years ago and has been deeply divided in recent years on the question of a possible return.

Some elements within ASTI claim the ICTU was unsupportive during their long-running pay dispute and that pursuit of long-standing policies might be best served with an independent voice.

At ASTI’s 2003 convention, delegates voted by a two-thirds majority against seeking re-affiliation with the ICTU, which counts most of the country’s trade unions in its membership.

But the motion debated for three hours behind closed doors in Cork yesterday received overwhelming support and means members will vote on rejoining Congress.

However, under an amendment passed by 166 votes to 160, the ballot will not take place until after a five-member committee presents a report to the central executive committee (CEC) either next January or at a special meeting before then.

The delegates also voted in favour of exploratory talks with ICTU on how affiliation might affect ASTI policies. The committee, whose membership will be known next week, must prepare a briefing document on the issue and hold regional meetings for members before preparing its report to CEC.

The union’s Cork South branch chairman Paddy Mulcahy proposed the substantive motion on a ballot and expressed satisfaction at the outcome.

“I think ordinary members are in a position to ballot on ICTU right now, but some people feel they needed a bit of time and additional information on where Congress stands on a number of policy issues.

“If the committee is committed to getting the work done, there’s no reason why the ballot should be delayed significantly,” Mr Mulcahy said.

Some delegates said it would have been appropriate to ballot members on re-affiliation to ICTU when they vote in the coming weeks on the latest phase of social partnership. But it is generally felt that the strong support for sending the issue out to members is a sign of somewhat restored unity within the ASTI.

The 16,500-member union’s acting general secretary John White told members on Wednesday that their officials and elected officers could better represent them through greater involvement in social partnership. He said they should have a voice at the table on decisions taken about their terms and conditions of employment, particularly with the terms of reference for the next public service pay benchmarking process due to be agreed in July.

The ASTI central executive has already decided to ballot members on acceptance of the second phase of the Sustaining Progress social partnership deal. It was negotiated by ICTU with Government and employers, and includes the final instalment of a 13% pay award to teachers under the first benchmarking report in 2002.