Teachers Conference: Applause for minister’s stance in takeover row

Teachers and lecturers rose in applause at Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan’s intervention on behalf of colleagues who are in dispute with two colleges over the effects of a planned takeover.

The row at St Angela’s College, where the Teachers’ Union of Ireland plan a second one-day strike next Thursday, centres largely on what, they say, has been the refusal of NUI Galway to engage with them.

The teacher-training college is due to be incorporated into the university, but the union claims management has refused to engage with TUI on behalf of its members there, who have concerns about being moved to different grades and other effects on their conditions.