ASTI to continue with industrial action after rejecting junior cycle reform plan

The ASTI has announced that it will continue its current industrial action as part of its dispute with the Department of Education over junior cycle reforms.

The announcement came after a ballot of members voted 55% to 45% against the proposals put forward by Minister Jan O’Sullivan.

The union said that it will re-issue an industrial action directive of non-cooperation with the junior cycle - including non attendance of training events - and a refusal to engage with any school-based assessment.

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Just 38% of members voted in the ballot, but ASTI president Maire Ni Chiarba insisted that the union's members have spoken.

"We're a democratic organisation, and you know how it works in a democracy - people who don't vote disenfranchise themselves," she said.

"And in any election, to get a 38% turnout is not to be ignored, and 55% of those who voted have spoken and have given us a mandate, so we're proceeding on that basis."