ASTI to seek 15% pay hike independent of ICTU

A MAJOR teachers’ union is set to ask for a 15% wages hike in an independent pay claim — despite its recent return to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) is poised to discuss another independent pay claim at its annual convention in a fortnight.

A ballot of the 16,500 members last month resulted in the union’s return to ICTU, having left during its controversial industrial dispute in 2000. The dispute centred around the ASTI’s claim for a 30% pay rise, pursued independently of the wider trade union movement which negotiated salary increases through the social partnership model.

Some observers suggest the ASTI’s stance helped teachers secure an above-average 13% rise in the 2002 public service benchmarking but others claim the three teacher unions could have achieved more if they had negotiated together.

This increase, along with the supervision and substitution payment agreed with the Department of Education in 2004 and other increases under social partnership, has led to teachers’ salaries rising more than 20% in recent years.

The motion for discussion by delegates in Ennis is a composite of proposals from the union’s Mullingar and Dublin South County branches.

Another motion to be discussed at the three-day event, which opens on April 18, is the Fingal branch’s call for the union to ensure that in-service courses for teachers be conducted within school hours.

Last week, Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools president Sr Marie Céline Clegg urged unions and the department to bring such courses outside class time as they impact on students’ learning time.