INTO members reject plans for day of action

TEACHERS yesterday rejected plans to call a national day of action over substandard schools.

The INTO had planned to conduct a walkout to highlight the issue but in a surprise move, the majority of the 800 INTO delegates voted against the motion. Many felt it was too late in the school year to begin the protest.

“But I think teachers are prepared to campaign tirelessly on this,” said Marie Bradley, a teacher in Scoil Mhuire Fatima in Drogheda, Co Louth.

Three weeks ago, part of the roof on a building in her school collapsed. “Luckily, this happened on a Saturday when there was no one about. I dread to think of the consequences had it happened at lunchtime,” she said.

Primary teachers will receive a 21% pay rise by 2005 under Benchmarking and the national pay agreement but there were few contented voices yesterday. Principals and deputy principals complained about not receiving the same rises under benchmarking as their secondary level counterparts.

INTO general secretary John Carr pledged the association’s support, saying principals were “overburdened, over-stretched and overworked”.

“We must mobilise as never before to halt the pre-occupation with bureaucracy. Some teaching principals have already gone under the pressure and relinquished their posts,” he said.

Meanwhile, delegates voted in favour of a motion rejecting any link between the benchmarking awards and increased working hours or workload.

Teachers also passed a motion condemning the failure of the benchmarking process to reduce the salary scale of primary teachers. The INTO said the 26-point scale, which does not pay the maximum salary until after 25 years, should be reduced to a simple 10-point version.

“The long salary scale acts as a disincentive to young teachers when they see their friends making faster progress in their line of work,” said Una Ni Riain, a Dublin-based teacher.