Teachers’ strike: School staff warn there is ‘not much left to give’ amid pay dispute

Teachers, principals and special needs assistants cite rising living costs, classroom pressures and stalled pay negotiations as they warn further action may follow

Irish Examiner columnist Jennifer Horgan and colleagues from the ASTI, TUI and Fórsa unions on the picket line outside Cork Educate Together Secondary School, currently based at Griffith College Cork, during Wednesday's nationwide public sector strike. Picture: Larry Cummins

“There isn't a whole pile left to give, in teachers. There genuinely isn't.” 

It was a stark message repeated in different words by teachers on the picket lines visited by the Irish Examiner on Wednesday.

All schools across the country closed as teachers, principals, special needs assistants and other school staff joined the national action.

Their unions — the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI), the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) and Fórsa — have called for further strike action next week.

Many of those who spoke to the Irish Examiner believe the action will go ahead. They also spoke of their struggles to pay for day-to-day living costs and the increasing pressure in classrooms due to what they described as cuts by stealth and under-resourcing.

For many newly qualified teachers, it was their first experience of industrial action.

Siobhan O’Donovan, an English teacher and ASTI representative picketing outside Patrician Academy in Mallow, said she hoped public expenditure minister Jack Chambers would watch the news on Wednesday night “and realise the gravity of the situation he's facing”.

“There isn't a whole pile left to give, in teachers, there genuinely isn't,” she said.

“Over the last ten to 15 years, I have witnessed the changes in schools, from policy changes, to curricular changes, to wellbeing, mental health, digital literacy, inclusion and diversity and special education. That's before you touch on Junior Cycle reform, Senior Cycle reform, Croke Park hours, and before the extracurricular workload that teachers do, training teams, debates. There really, really isn't much left to give.”

“I see young teachers coming in and within a year or two, sometimes they get a bit deflated. Sometimes they get that look on their face, they've spent at least four years in college. They are thinking 'yes I love the job, but I'm still living at home. I can't afford to rent, where's my future?’” 

It can take up to six years for many younger people to qualify as post-primary teachers, through a four-year degree and a two-year Professional Master of Education (PME).

She added: “And then you could come into a school on a ten-hour contract. You could be on a low hour contract for a few years.” 

“Nobody goes into teaching to make money, you just don't,” Ms O’Donovan said. “It's not a career where you'd say 'I'll progress up through the ladder and I'll be rich in ten years'. That won't happen, but the expectation was always there that you could live on a teacher's salary. I genuinely mean it, that is no longer there, once you factor in the facts of life: childcare, petrol to get you to work, your mortgage, the cost of food.” 

“I just hope that Minister Chambers, Micheál Martin, Hildegarde Naughton will look at the news and say 'ok, this isn't a union dance or choreographed move' that they were kind of portraying it as [on Tuesday]. This is for real, and this is real people on the ground.”

ASTI and Forsa union members picketing at Patrician Academy secondary school at Mallow, Co Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

Teachers highlight pressure on schools and staff

In Glasheen, Cork city, it was eerily quiet outside the usually busy school grounds of Glasheen Boys NS and Glasheen Girls NS.

Principal of Glasheen Girls NS Maeve Heaphy said: “The lack of respect is the big part for me. I have such respect for my own staff, and I believe they should be treated fairly. The shocking part for me is that we haven’t been in this situation for 40 years. The disrespect of that alone speaks volumes.” 

“I have a lot of young staff coming to me, saying I’m trying to get a mortgage and I can’t. Some of them aren’t that ‘young’ either. A lot of them are really finding it hard to get mortgages. That’s having a huge impact.” 

“We hear the department talking about ‘productivity’,” said teacher and INTO representative Orla Ryng. “We’re currently implementing a new, revised, play based curriculum. We’re doing our best to do that, but we’re doing it in the largest class sizes in Europe.” 

The Government has included a commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in the Programme for Government, she added.

“They haven’t done that, and it is impacting on every single child in the school system.” 

“When they talk to us about productivity, we are already doing more, with less.” 

On the busy road outside St Columba’s in Douglas, every passing car, truck, bus and van beeped in support of the special needs assistants (SNAs), teachers and school staff gathered on the picket line.

Marina Lawler, a teacher and INTO member, said she did not want to be on the picket line.

“I want to be in that building, doing my job,” she said. “We’ve been out of a pay deal since June, I would just like it to be resolved. Teachers have never been wanting when it comes to productivity, we always step up. We’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis, we need pay to be discussed first.” 

Picket at St Columbas GNS with Facility for Deaf Children, Douglas and St Columba BNS as the Forsa and INTO unions engaged in strike action today. Video: Larry Cummins

Ballincollig was also quieter than usual on Wednesday, with four busy schools and the local playground closed due to industrial action.

Roisin O’Mahony, an SNA with Scoil Barra, said SNAs wanted fair pay.

“We work long hours, we work hard. We just want an acceptable pay deal to get through this cost of living crisis, and what we deserve.”

At the neighbouring special school Our Lady of Good Counsel, SNA Fiona Dodd said the last thing staff wanted was for their pupils to be at home.

“It’s a last resort,” she said. “This is what we have to do, for a fair deal.”

Unions hope for movement in pay talks 

Chairperson of the TUI County Limerick branch Shane Curtain said: “I think teachers are struggling just like everyone else in society.” 

Negotiating a new pay deal did not “seem to get the priority that it should have had”, he said.

“People feel then as a result 'well we have to add our voice to demanding that something moves on this'. It appears like it's been a forgotten piece – why was that left slip? I get that sense that people hope there will be movement over the next week, but the determination is that something has to move on this to show our concerns are being recognised.”