Teachers in strike threat over funding and workload

PRIMARY school teachers will strike unless the Government increases investment in schools and reduces their workload.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation’s 23,000 members could begin walking out of classrooms within weeks, with the INTO annual congress set to back a motion to strike over substandard schools today.

Addressing 800 delegates in Bundoran last night, INTO president Gerry Malone voiced teachers’ anger over the state of their working conditions over the past year.

“We have seen the overcrowded schools, rundown prefabs, leaking roofs, dangerous playgrounds and rotting windows. Teachers, parents and children want answers. And the only answer is money,” he said.

The Government’s €343m School Building Programme 2003 will only allow for 12 primary school projects to proceed to the construction stage this year. Most of the money will go towards pre-planning and design and the majority are unlikely to see the work finished for a number of years.

INTO wants the Government to invest €1.5 billion in upgrading or replacing hundreds of primary schools over five years.

A motion before the congress demands an immediate start on work at all substandard schools. It will also ask the INTO executive to call a one-day strike before the end of next month, and to intensify the campaign if the issue is not resolved by September.

Such escalated industrial action looks likely, because no spending increases on schools will be announced before the Government publishes next year’s Book of Estimates in November at the earliest.

Education Minister Noel Dempsey, who is to address the INTO conference this morning, has said his capital budgets are restricted by the Department of Finance. He has a similar estimate on the amount needed to bring all schools up to standard, but it is likely to be invested over a far longer timescale than that sought by the INTO.

Mr Malone also threatened a work-to-rule action over the increasing workload arising from recent legislation, affecting the union’s 2,500-odd teaching principals in particular. He said there is an intolerable burden on teachers to write school policies, compile reports and fill forms, bringing many to breaking point.

“If we are unsupported in the area of increased workload, we will differentiate between what is essential, worthwhile and of benefit to teachers and pupils, and what is there merely to impress others,” he said.

The Irish Primary Principals Network, a professional headmasters body, has pressured the INTO to pursue this matter, as well as seeking a separate salary scale for members.