CONFERENCE:THE MAIN secondary teachers union ASTI has decided not to invite Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe to its Easter annual conference.
However, a source close to the Minister said yesterday Mr O’Keeffe was “not in the least bothered’’ by the ASTI move, which reflects anger among members at budget pay cuts.
The ASTI executive voted to exclude the Minister from its conference by a narrow majority.
The moves comes amid anger among teachers about an average 13 per cent pay cut in the past year when the impact of the pension levy and the pay cuts are combined.
The decision to snub Mr O’Keeffe is a surprising one as the Minister’s address to the annual conference is seen as the highlight of the event which draws most media coverage.
Some ASTI figures view the move as an “own goal”, but others see it as a forceful response to the pay cuts.
The teacher unions – they also include the INTO and the TUI – resolved yesterday to continue their work-to-rule in protest at the cuts.
They are warning of increased chaos in schools as key middle-management posts go unfilled.
The unions are also reviewing the involvement of teachers in extra-curricular activities like sport and drama.
At a joint meeting senior figures from the four teacher and lecturers’ unions stressed that the current action represented only the “first phase’’ of their campaign against the public service cuts.
The teacher unions already have a mandate from members for industrial action.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers narrowly failed to get the two-thirds majority required for industrial action. Some 61 per cent of members supported the move.
After yesterday’s meeting, a spokesperson for the unions said the campaign would be kept under review during the coming weeks with a view to increasing the intensity of industrial action.
“Members of all the unions are extremely angry and frustrated at the effect of the two pay cuts imposed by Government in the last 12 months, and the unions are determined to respond to this,” said the spokesperson.
Work-to-rule in primary and second-level schools and third-level institutions is based on a number of specific directives issued by the unions.
These cover a range of school activities, including:
- Parent-teacher meetings and staff meetings after school hours;
- The taking on of additional responsibilities and duties where promoted posts have been suppressed due to the jobs embargo;
- In-service education without substitute cover and the rolling back of some changes made under recent national agreements.
Meanwhile, vocational school managers have welcomed the intervention of the Labour Relations Commission in the public service dispute.
Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the Irish Vocational Education Association – representing Ireland’s 33 VECs – said he hoped Government, unions and employers could respond “with an openness to address all options”.