ASTI rejects talks with Department over pay and working hours

The country’s main second-level teachers’ union has voted not to enter into talks with the Department of Education over issues such as working hours and pay and conditions for newly-qualified teachers.

Senior department officials invited the ASTI to join in talks with the other second-level teachers’union, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, on a range of concerns facing teachers.

However, ASTI’s 23-member standing committee has voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer, according to several sources.

The 17,500-strong union is now on a collision course with the department on multiple fronts, including junior cycle reform, additional working hours and pay and conditions for members. It has threatened industrial action on these fronts in the autumn.

The most pressing issue facing the union is a ballot next month on whether teachers should cease working additional hours agreed under the Croke Park deal.

Delegates at the union’s annual convention last month voted to stop working the 33 non-teaching hours. Department officials have warned the union that such a move would result in teachers losing out on thousands of euro in increments and planned pay restoration under financial emergency legislation.

It also warned that some teachers who were not in permanent posts could face redundancy or reduced entitlement to permanency if the union was seen to repudiate the Lansdowne Road agreement.

Croke Park hours

At a recent meeting of the union’s 180-member central executive committee, members narrowly rejected a proposal to establish a committee to inform teachers about the pros and cons of ceasing to work Croke Park hours.

Members in support of the proposal argued that teachers had a right to know the full consequences of any such vote, with some arguing that the union could be legally vulnerable if some teachers lost their jobs or significant sums of money.

However, more hardline members argued that such a move would play into the department’s hands and unduly sway members.

While no committee will be established to provide details to members, it is expected that the union will provide some details of the potential financial consequences in its newsletter.

Postal ballots

The union is due to hold a school-based ballot for the first time between May 4th-11th. This move is aimed at increasing the proportion of members likely to vote following a dismal turnout in recent postal ballots.

The ASTI’s stand-off with the department over junior cycle reform comes after its standing committee voted to cease co-operating in providing cover for TUI members involved in training for the new curriculum.

The union has already threatened a series of one-day strikes in the autumn unless its concerns are addressed.

In a separate development, the union has stated publicly that it is not endorsing former trade union leader David Begg as a Seanad candidate. In a short statement on its website, the ASTI's standing committee stated that "Mr Begg has engaged in public criticism of the ASTI's position at critical junctures in ASTI campaigns against national public service agreements. The ASTI is not endorsing any candidate for the 2016 Seanad election."

Mr Begg told The Irish Times he had never criticised the union, and had offered support to it during many sensitive periods.