Proactive approach to sick pay by unions

I refer to your editorial (Mar 13) on education spending.

Your writer professes amazement that the issue is “only being dealt with now”. In fact, the issue has been proactively approached by the department, unions and school management over several years. Measures adopted include the establishment of an employee assistance service and an occupational health service. These initiatives, designed to provide support to those suffering ill-health, have contributed to improved health outcomes and resulted in many teachers being able to return to work who would previously have had to leave the service.

The reference to a “dishonest minority” is completely unfounded.

It is unproven comments such as these that fuel the divisiveness and feelings of being under siege to which your leader writer refers.

Teachers on long-term sick leave typically include teachers suffering cancer and other serious illnesses, such as stress and depression.

This has been independently verified and reported.

Your editorial lacked balance in that it ignored all the reform that has taken place in schools in curriculum and assessment, evaluation, enrolment and the working of the Croke Park Agreement by teachers. A further example of the one-sided nature of the editorial was the reference to the payment of benchmarking without recording the fact that pay cuts have more than wiped out this payment.

Noreen Flynn

President

Irish National Teachers’ Organisation

35 Parnell Square

Dublin 1