ASTI calls for special leave for teachers who suffer miscarriage

ASTI members now plan to collaborate with other unions to push through this measure and end the stigma that often still shrouds miscarriage. File picture

Special leave for people who suffer pregnancy miscarriage and their partners has been called for by the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI).

ASTI members now plan to collaborate with other unions to push through this measure and end the stigma that often still shrouds miscarriage.

A motion passed unanimously at the ASTI convention that special leave be granted to those who experience a miscarriage or their partners equivalent to compassionate leave for a parent, child or spouse bereavement.

One in five pregnancies end in miscarriage but there is no specific leave for pregnancy loss under 26 weeks gestation, Ken Dwyer, who proposed the motion and ASTI representative from Bray, said. “The union should provide comfort, support and solidarity for members, particularly at this most vulnerable time,” Mr Dwyer said.

Mary Lyndon, from Roscrea, who once suffered a miscarriage, said that the motion was “lifting the veil” over miscarriage and challenging the stigma that still shrouds it. “I was one of those people who had a miscarriage. I only told my husband. It wasn’t spoken about at all.

“I felt a failure. Thank God we’re throwing the veil back on this. It’s nothing to be ashamed of just because it happens to women.” 

The ASTI annual convention in Wexford erupted in applause when Ms Lyndon noted that two men were now proposing this motion which would predominantly protect their female colleagues.

Once-taboo subjects like miscarriage, menopause and menstruation are losing their stigma thanks to people speaking up about them, she said.

And this is vital if we are to attract and retain women in the workforce, she said. 

Ms Lyndon said:

We are a predominantly female profession, why should we be embarrassed about periods or menopause or miscarriage or maternity?

Conall Ó Dufaigh, ASTI representative for Bray, also proposed the motion. When people need time off following a miscarriage they should not have to pretend they have the flu or rely on sick leave or the discretion of the school following such a difficult event, he said.

Mr Dwyer and Mr Ó Dufaigh said that they were motivated to propose the motion after seeing friends and family struggle through miscarriage without having access to specific leave for it and noticed a “culture of shame” around it.

"I think a crucial part of the trade union movement is to identify needs that haven’t necessarily been set out in law yet and make them into realities," Mr Ó Dufaigh said.

Mr Dwyer said: “This has to be an issue we fight for and that it’s not a culture of shame.” 

Equality

James Herbert, ASTI representative from North Dublin, got a standing ovation at the convention when he called for equality in the workplace.

Mr Herbert, an English teacher, said that he almost did not go to the convention after he faced LGBT+ slurs in a hotel at a previous convention in Cork. He said that a group of males made anti-LGBT+ comments about him when he got into a lift with them in the hotel.

“It would leave a bitter taste in your mouth," he said.

The language used in schools is vital to challenge and prevent prejudice and subconscious bias against LGBT+ people, he said. “We’re the nucleus. It needs to start here at convention to emanate it back into schools, back into the classrooms. 

“Words are so important. Words can hurt. So we need to be very careful of the vocabulary that we use.”