Government: Teachers must be willing to sign deal

The Government will only talk to the union of 16,000 teachers disrupting 500 second-level schools if they are willing to sign up to the Haddington Road deal, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s top civil servant said yesterday.

Pressure is growing on Mr Quinn and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) to resolve the dispute which began on Oct 2. The organisation said both sides must focus on the plight of students, whose studies will suffer a detrimental effect.

Asti has said the main purpose of its industrial action, having rejected the Haddington Road public service agreement, is members’ opposition to education cutbacks.

National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) president Kay O’Brien said the dispute is causing significant difficulties for members but students are the biggest victims.

“It is they whose education is disrupted when meetings have to take place during the teaching day. It is they who will suffer the consequences of their teachers not participating in in-service for the new junior cycle,” she said.

Ms O’Brien urged Mr Quinn to take the first step and invite the Asti to sit down without further delay and come up with a solution that will allow schools return to providing the best education for students.

“It will have to happen sooner or later. It will be unforgivable if it is later,” Ms O’Brien told the NAPD annual conference in Galway.

Department of Education secretary general Seán Ó Foghlú told delegates the department recognises the difficulties in schools and wants to see a resolution to the dispute as soon as possible.

“The Asti have signalled their unwillingness to sign up [to the Haddington Road Agreement]. We would talk to Asti if they signalled willingness to sign up to it, but they aren’t,” he said.

While officials are looking at possibly issuing a circular that would mean Asti members doing supervision and substitution work would no longer be paid for it, there are no immediate plans to do so.

However, while other teachers are not being paid for these duties, Mr Ó Foghlú said Asti members will lose out over time with the non-payment of salary increments for the duration of the deal.

Further details of the implications for Asti members of being outside the deal were published on the department website yesterday. However, there is still no clarity on the position for non-unionised teachers at more than 100 dual-union schools or the small number of Teachers’ Union of Ireland members in 370 secondary schools almost entirely staffed by Asti members.

An Asti spokeswoman said members rejected the agreement by a two-to-one margin for complex reasons. “They include, but go beyond, what is in the agreement,” she said.

“The Asti believes the current dispute can only be resolved through talks on the issues of concern to schools and teachers.”

Mr Ó Foghlú echoed concerns raised by Mr Quinn this week about the impact on parents of an Asti directive that means meetings with teachers may be moved inside school hours. He said training for principals will go ahead next week, and after the mid-term break for English teachers, for the new reformed junior cycle due to be taught from next September despite the Asti ban on co-operation.