Teachers unions claim talks can avert strikes

STRIKE action by more than 60,000 teachers can be avoided if the Government restarts talks with the union movement, their leaders said at the weekend.

Following the announcement on Friday night that their members had voted for industrial action, leaders of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) stressed that it is not intended to disrupt education for their students.

INTO general secretary John Carr said any action will be organised in consultation with the other teacher unions and the broader trade union movement.