Teachers to begin work-to-rule action in levy protest

MORE than 25,000 second level teachers will refuse to take part in parent-teacher meetings after school hours as part of their union’s action against the pension levy and education cutbacks.

In a move designed to increase pressure on the Government to re-enter talks with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the work-to-rule action by members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) is scheduled to begin at the country’s 730 second level schools on March 31, the day after a planned national strike on next Monday week.

It will involve withdrawal from after-school parent-teacher and staff meetings, and from school development planning meetings, all activities on which teacher unions reached agreement with the Department of Education in return for pay increases under previous social partnership deals.