No moves in Athlone Department dispute

Nothing has happened in the dispute over staffing difficulties at Department of Education and Science offices in Athlone despite the ongoing problems it is causing - in particular for teachers at primary and second level.

Delays in payments and the provision of information with regard to teachers' pay and pensions have resulted. The second-level teachers' unions report an endless stream of queries from schools where there is confusion and frustration over conversions to permanent jobs, early retirement provisions, qualifications payments, long-term service allowances and posts of responsibility.

The action of the Public Services Executive Union, which began last week, is supported by the three teachers' unions, who wrote to the Minister last week urging him to intervene and end the work-to-rule in the teachers' pay and pensions section of the Department. This section has "effectively collapsed" due to the sheer volume of work the officials had to take on beacuse of the new schemes agreed two years ago under the PCW. "We are being inundated with calls," says John White, deputy general secretary of the ASTI. "The payment of their proper salary is an important issue for teachers." Jim Dorney, general secretary of the TUI, says "head office has been inundated with complaints about delays in payments". Key authorising circulars, which will flag the implementation of the new arrangements agreed in the PCW package, have not been issued, "and even where circulars have been issued members are experiencing delays in receiving payments," says Dorney. "Nothing is happening on that" is response from the Department of Education and Science. "There hasn't been any development and the situation remains as it was," according to a Department spokeswoman.