Industrial action threat: 500 schools set to be shut

More than 500 schools are facing closure after secondary teachers threatened to strike in a long-running row over pay.

An ASTI protest outside Dáil Éireann highlighted the fact that recently qualified teachers are on inferior pay scales. Picture: Sam Boal

After two strong votes by members for industrial action about pay equality and teachers’ terms and conditions, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) is waiting until its 23-member standing committee meets today to decide if and when it should begin.

But ASTI president Ed Byrne said he believes the union should direct members to withdraw from supervision and substitution work in about two weeks, meaning schools could be forced to close before the Halloween mid-term beginning the week of October 31.

The Department of Education had requested a seven or eight-week delay on any action to allow replacement staff be recruited and Garda-vetted to cover the duties.

The pay issue means possible strikes by ASTI’s 18,000 members unless there is full restoration of equal pay to those who began teaching from 2011 or after. But withdrawing from supervision and substitution duties would lead to uncertainty for health and safety reasons about the ability to keep open schools attended by over 250,000 students.

The department and school boards have made provisional plans to hire staff to cover non-teaching work by ASTI members

Up to 550 of the country’s 720 second-level schools could be affected, almost 400 of them entirely staffed by ASTI members, and the rest staffed by mixes of ASTI and Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members.

Around three-quarters of ASTI members voted, with 78% support for the ballot to withdraw from supervision work, while 80% favoured action up to strike to seek restoration of equal pay for younger teachers.

Mr Byrne told the Irish Examiner that the department and school management bodies have been making contingency plans for months and had plenty forewarning of the ballot and the likely result.

“How quickly we withdraw from supervision is down to our standing committee. But my own take is that Government knew what was going to happen, in getting ready to attack us on supervision and substitution,” he said.

“They rehashed the financial emergency legislation prior to June 2015 and withdrew payment seven weeks ago,” he said.

Education Minister Richard Bruton expressed disappointment at ASTI members’ decisions.

“The issues of concern to ASTI members can only be resolved through dialogue. Following the ballot result today, the minister hopes that the union can now engage in constructive dialogue with the department,” a spokesman said.

The TUI is signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, meaning its members at second-level schools yesterday got the first salary increase to a payment previously given for supervision and substitution work, backdated to the start of September.

An ASTI protest outside Dáil Éireann highlighted the fact that recently qualified teachers are on inferior pay scales. Picture: Sam Boal

While provisional plans have been drawn up by the Department of Education and school management to hire staff locally to cover non-teaching work done by ASTI members, a window of at least seven weeks is needed. This includes time to have successful applicants Garda-vetted, which was not a requirement when ASTI previously withdrew from these duties in 2002.

The Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents ASTI-only schools, is waiting to hear what the union’s standing committee decides today before considering what arrangements to put in place.

“We would be very concerned at the threat of any industrial action and I would hope all parties might engage in dialogue as a matter of urgency, bearing in mind there are issues around junior cycle and planning in our schools of the so-called Croke Park hours that also need to be addressed,” said JMB general secretary John Curtis.