ASTI to ballot teachers over potential redundancies

The prospect of further industrial action in second-level schools has emerged again as the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland is to ballot members for strike action over potential redundancies.

However, while a process of identifying schools with surplus staff for next year is currently being carried out by the Department of Education, there are no indications as yet that the Government is actually planning to compulsorily lay off any teachers.

Meanwhile, it is also unclear as to whether the ASTI members earning more than €65,000 will benefit from the first phase of the restoration of pay cuts imposed under the 2013 Haddington Road agreement which came into effect for others across the public service on April 1st.

The issue of potential redundancy and delays to pay restoration arise as a result of the rejection by the ASTI of the Lansdowne Road agreement.

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The department said on Sunday that the issue of pay restoration from April 1st, 2017, for those on salaries of more than €65,000 and who were members of unions that were not party to a collective agreement was “under consideration between this department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform”.

Job security

The Lansdowne Road deal provides guarantees to public service staff in relation to job security.

Traditionally in cases where schools are identified as having surplus staff, a redeployment scheme is applied for the teachers concerned.

However, as the ASTI was considered to have “repudiated” the Lansdowne Road agreement, the Government introduced a number of measures including the withdrawal of protections such as the re-deployment scheme.

The 180-member central executive of the ASTI decided on Saturday to hold the ballot on industrial action up to and including strike action in the coming weeks “in order to protect ASTI teachers from being made redundant”.

ASTI president Ed Byrne said: "There is absolutely no reason for redundancies. There is an effective redeployment scheme in place which saves the State's and taxpayers' money. Plans to make ASTI teachers redundant is an attempt by the Government to coerce ASTI members to sign up to an agreement which they have already rejected in a ballot."

A spokesman for the Department of Education said on Sunday that protections against compulsory redundancy for public servants arose from commitments given by the Government under the Lansdowne Road agreement.

"By deciding to reject the Lansdowne Road agreement, the ASTI has placed its members outside that agreement and has decided that the agreement's benefits and protections will not apply to its members. The Department of Education and Skills made this position clear to the ASTI prior to its recent ballot."

Compulsory redundancy

“This protection against compulsory redundancy didn’t exist previously, so ASTI members have the same protection against compulsory redundancy today as they did in 2005, for example.

The Irish Times reported in February that 60 secondary schools had received letters notifying them of their surplus staff. However, this process is continuing and the level of surplus is likely to reduce in light of information gathered from affected schools, such as retirements, career breaks and job-sharing, and demographic trends.

The Department of Education spokesman said on Sunday: “Regarding the process of identifying staff surpluses, this takes place in the first half of each year and takes effect from the start of the following school year. The process operates and deals with any surplus for the following school year.

“The process for the 2017/18 school year is currently under way in the department. The department expects to know the final position in relation to the number of surplus teachers shortly.”

The ASTI central executive also adopted a policy that the issues of junior cycle reform and second-level teachers’ terms and conditions should be treated separately in any future talks/negotiations with the Government.