No school for over 200,000 pupils as ASTI set to strike

More than 200,000 students will be forced to stay at home tomorrow when hundreds of second-level schools stay shut due to the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) pay dispute.

While union officials will meet the Department of Education again today to discuss pay grievances, schools have notified parents not to send children in tomorrow, the day of the first of seven strikes by ASTI’s 18,000 members planned up to December 7.

But hundreds of schools will close indefinitely after the mid-term break, as nearly 400 which are staffed entirely by ASTI members still have not advertised for staff to take over supervision duties.

Paul Mooney, president of the National Parents’ Council-post primary, said he hopes the sides can keep talking until the issues are resolved and avoid disruption to students.

“There can’t be an enormous difference between them. We’re hoping that sense prevails,” he said.

The ASTI and department met yesterday to discuss issues behind the union’s refusal to co-operate with junior cycle reforms, with further talks penciled in after little or no progress was made. But they were not scheduled to consider the more urgent question of industrial actions again until this afternoon, having spent several hours on the matters on Monday.

The strikes are part of the union’s campaign for equal pay for teachers who began their careers from 2011 onward, who continue to earn at least 10% less than longer-serving colleagues.

Minister of State Damien English said on RTÉ TV on Monday night there would be eventual restoration of equal pay for all public servants, but that the Public Service Pay Commission needs to consider all the relevant issues.

But the absence of a clear timescale for such restoration has meant no backdown by the ASTI, despite pressure on the Government to avoid concessions that could cause follow-up claims from other public sector unions.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) members at around 150 dual-union schools are liable to lose a day’s pay if they do not pass ASTI colleagues’ pickets tomorrow, but it is unclear how many of those schools will be open anyway.

TUI members at dual-union schools were told on Friday not to do supervision or other work which is normally be done by ASTI colleagues, when they withdraw from supervision and substitution from Monday, November 7.

The number of schools looking for temporary supervisors to do that work instead of ASTI members has reduced by around a dozen since the weekend to just over 100, either after finding they could cover the duties from among non-ASTI staff or because they have had enough suitable external applicants.

Nearly 70 community and comprehensive schools are seeking people for the roles, but only 36 community colleges run by education and training boards advertised vacancies on the Department of Education website yesterday.

They are likely to remain closed for at least the first few days after mid-term because of the time needed for training and Garda vetting.