Teacher unions now favour Haddington Rd ballot

The leaders of two teacher unions have reversed views that their 30,000 members should not be balloted on the Haddington Rd deal.

But the decision of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) standing committee needs the backing of its larger 180-member central executive council, which will not meet until August, to decide if the union’s 17,000 members will be given a vote on the deal. The ASTI standing committee and the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) executive said a month ago that the Haddington Rd proposals from the Labour Relations Commission were not different enough from the Croke Park II deal already rejected by both unions, to allow fresh voting.

But the mood was different when the two union leaderships met together yesterday after a week when Siptu and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation announced votes in favour of the deal. The acceptance of the deal by the Garda Representative Association and Psychiatric Nurses Association was also announced yesterday.

The ASTI and TUI also considered legal advice on the law, that would see public servants whose unions did not sign up to Haddington Rd lose out on restoration of pay cuts to those earning over €65,000 and on the lifting of freezes on salary increments.

The TUI ballot is not likely until late August at the earliest, leaving uncertainty over whether members will do supervision and substitution work in September.