LRC chief ‘does not understand’ decision of teachers’ unions

Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey has said he does not understand the decision of two teachers' unions not to ballot their members on the pay deal reached with the Government last week.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) said they had taken the decision because they believed the proposals on public sector pay did not contain sufficient improvements on what was already on the table.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Marian Finucane programme, Mr Mulvey said the decision would look odd whatever the outcome of the deliberations by the two unions.

“They haven’t said no. They just said they wouldn’t ballot their members on whether they should said yes or no,” he said.

“So I must say I’m quite mesmerised by that decision because the fundamental role of any trade union is to consult with their members and to ask their opinions.

“They say it’s not a materially different set of proposals; I think they are. It will look strange, I think, in the firmament of industrial relations and collective bargaining if actually union members don’t vote.”

The two teaching unions are seeking further talks on improving the Haddington Road agreement on reducing the State’s pay bill in education and other sectors.

In a joint statement, they said they “do not believe there is sufficient improvement and sufficient clarification . . . for it to constitute a final offer”.

“When these matters are addressed, ASTI and TUI members will be consulted,” the unions said, arguing it was “still possible to conclude an agreement”.

However, the Government warned the unions that if they did not accept the Haddington Road Agreement they would have cuts imposed on them under legislation to go through the Oireachtas next week.

On Thursday the executives of the ASTI and TUI in effect rejected the new proposals drawn up at the Labour Relations Commission earlier this week.

Neither union plans to ballot members on the proposals as they maintain they do not differ sufficiently from the original Croke Park II document which their members rejected last month.

Warning

Teaching unions have warned of industrial action if the Government invoked the new legislation it published on Thursday to reduce unilaterally members’ pay or worsen their conditions of employment.

Last night another education union, the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), said it would ballot members on the Haddington Road Agreement but would first hold a special conference to determine whether to accept, reject or take no position on the proposed deal.

The special consultative conference will take place on June 8th.

In a statement issued after a three-hour meeting of its executive, the union also said that in the meantime IFUT would “be seeking legal opinion on the legal and constitutional validity of the proposed Government legislation aimed at imposing its proposals”.