Schools at risk of industrial action over row

Further industrial action in secondary schools is looming after teachers voted to cease working additional hours they say are no longer required when past pay deals expire this summer.

While the move to stop providing the extra 33 hours a year may require a ballot of the full 18,000 members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, delegates at the union’s convention said the time is used unproductively.

“Teachers are sitting through hours and hours of meetings about meetings that are a pure waste of time. And all to bail out banks and bondholders who brought this country to its knees,” said Sinead Corkery, a Dublin South Central member of ASTI central executive council.