Delegates urged to put past industrial unrest behind them

TEACHERS must move forward together to achieve their objectives and put industrial unrest of the past behind them, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland president PJ Sheehy said last night.

The recent acceptance by the union of the national pay deal, benchmarking and the Government’s substitution and supervision offer effectively ended their three-year pay dispute.

Mr Sheehy told the ASTI annual convention in Limerick that a line has been drawn under the most recent chapter of the pay claim saga. “What began life as a simple straightforward pay claim resulted in much antipathy, antagonism and acrimony,” he said.

He also had a message for the hardline element within the union who led the controversial and disruptive campaign, when he spoke about the recent ASTI vote on benchmarking.

“I had a duty to bring the option of a ballot on the offer to the 17,500 members. Such is the duty of any leader who represents all of the members and not just a single group.”

Education Minister Noel Dempsey told delegates that some of the issues poisoned the atmosphere between the union and the Government. “They made it almost impossible for us to look to or plan for the future together. As a result, education suffered, children suffered, and the teaching profession suffered,” he said.