The Department of Education's plans to keep schools open from next Monday suffered a setback yesterday after retired teachers were told not to act as supervisors in place of ASTI members.
The Retired Secondary Teachers' Association (RSTA) said it was recommending that its members, and all retired teachers, should not to participate in the contingency plans, which are being organised locally by school managers.
The group said it was doing this in support of our "colleagues in their claim for a just settlement". Hundreds of retired teachers have come forward to work as supervisors in their local schools and if this group were to reverse their decision, it would be a significant setback for the plans.
The motion recommending a boycott of the contingency plans was passed at a recent meeting of the RSTA, which has many former ASTI members. However, education sources played down the effect of the motion last night. "Some retired teachers may be put off by this, but others will do their own thing and really want to do the work," said one source.
In a separate development, confusion has arisen about disciplinary problems which may arise in schools with outside supervisors. School managers at a meeting yesterday wanted to know would ASTI members be prepared to intervene in discipline problems which occur while non-teachers are doing their work.
The head of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), Mr George O'Callaghan, said he wanted clarification from ASTI on whether year heads and other ASTI post holders would still get involved in solving such discipline problems.
He said he expected clarification from the ASTI later this week. "It is not a problem at the moment, but we need some more clarity on this," he added. Meanwhile, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, is expected to hold talks with three other teacher unions later this week. However, is likely that any concessions from the Department will be minimal.
Schools managers remain confident that most schools can be kept open on Monday, as about 5,000 people have come forward to work as supervisors. Considerably fewer people than this are needed and many schools have long lists of people to call on.
However in "dual union" schools where ASTI and TUI members work alongside each other, the situation is more complex. Some observers believe TUI teachers will not do supervision for free while non-teachers come into their schools and do it for €34 an hour.
The three unions are split about the way forward.
The INTO has accepted the Government's offer (though it wants it made pensionable). The TUI has voted against it, but supports further negotiation, while the ASTI has voted against the package and instructed its members to pull out of supervision/substitution work from Monday.