ASTI committee move may lead to further strikes

The central executive of the second level teachers’ union, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), has been urged to reject proposals aimed at averting further school closures as a result of strikes.

The move by the union’s standing committee on Friday night to urge rejection of a proposed settlement does not, in itself, necessarily mean there will be further industrial action in schools but it does increase the possibility.

The 180-member central executive will today assess proposals which emerged from three weeks of talks at the Teachers’ Conciliation Council with a view to bringing to an end a number of disputes in which the union is currently involved.

However, the union’s smaller standing committee, following a two-hour meeting yesterday, recommended that the central executive should reject the new settlement proposals, according to a spokeswoman for the ASTI.

Supervision withdrawal

Hundreds of schools across the country had been hit by one day strikes and by the withdrawal of supervision and substitution cover by members of the ASTI over recent weeks. The industrial action came about as a result of two separate disputes between the ASTI and the Government; one over lower pay levels for recently-recruited teachers and the other over financial penalties imposed after the union was considered to have “repudiated” the Lansdowne Road public service pay deal.

The industrial action was deferred to allow for talks with the Department of Education at the Teachers’ Conciliation Council.

However, the terms of the proposed deal are broadly similar to gains secured earlier this year by the other teaching unions, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.

The new package of measures has been described as a “final offer”.

The ASTI leadership told its 23-member standing committee earlier this week that a failure to accept the new proposals would result in a range of harsh penalties over the coming months.

Ballot

The executive will have to decide on whether the new proposals should be put to a ballot of the 17,000 members of the union and, if so, whether it should make any recommendation on acceptance.

If the central executive itself was to reject the proposals, it would require a two-thirds majority for such a move.

Under the deal, new entrant teachers would receive pay increases of up to 22 per cent over the next 18 months, while a new “opt-out” would be available for teachers who did not wish to provide supervision and substitution cover.

Incremental pay increases would be restored, as would payment for supervision and substitution duty.

ASTI members would have to agree to cease its industrial action and work a highly controversial 33 additional “Croke Park” hours annually in exchange for these gains.

There are also proposals that would allow thousands of junior cycle students in schools staffed by members of the ASTI to avoid penalties in their exams next summer.

This would be in exchange for the ASTI committing to dropping its industrial action and co-operating with junior cycle reform.