ASTI say ball firmly inDepartment’s court
THE ASTI remain optimistic that a resolution can be found to minimise disruption to Wexford secondary schools, but maintains the ball is firmly in the Department of Education’s court.
Speaking in the Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy last week at a retirement function for ASTI teachers from around the county, the General Secretary of the union, Kieran Christie, remains hopeful of a resolution ahead of Thursday’s first day of industrial action.
‘We are always optimistic. Certainly, the problems are serious, and significant and difficult, but all disputes in the end tend to end in resolution. We would be optimistic that this one will be resolved. We are hoping that this will be resolved sooner rather than later, said Mr Christie.
The union are conscious that any industrial action will have an impact on students, particularly those sitting state exams, but are keen to outline that this impact will be kept to a minimum. As it stands, approximately 500 ASTI members from around the county are due to take to the picket lines on Thursday morning, the first in a proposed series of seven strike days.
‘ The ASTI are composed of teachers, and they are working with students day in and day out. And the last place that a teacher wants to be is on the picket line and losing tuition time with their students. But unfortunately, we have tried all the powers of persuasion that we have, over a protracted length of time in relation to this particular matter of differential pay scales in teaching. And unfortunately we have arrived at this point now,’ said Mr Christie.
‘Obviously we would regret any loss of tuition time. But we still feel there is an opportunity for the Minister for Education to intervene in a manner that would move the situation on in a way that would minimise, or reduce to zero, the amount of tuition time that would be lost. It really is in the hands of the Minister to make a decisive move to end this dispute,’ he said.
The Department of Education stated last week that pay parity would restore payments to secondary teachers for carrying out supervision and substitution duties if they rescind plans to cease working 33 unpaid teaching hours – the so-called Croke Park hours. But according to Deirdre McDonald from Wexford town, who is the Regional Representative on ASTI’s Standing Committee, this stance by the department is not helpful. She also rejects suggestions from the department that they need more time to resolve the current impasse.
‘We want meaningful negotiations and engagement with the department and to look on what we have in common, common ground on which we can grow on, rather than setting out pre-determined parameters before. That is not a helpful stance by the department,’ she said at the Riverside Park Hotel last week.
‘Confidence building measures would be the department showing goodwill, showing that they are serious about wanting to resolve this as quickly as possible. So that is within their gift. We haven’t come to this point lightly, they have known about this for a long time. So in terms of the department saying they would like more time, they have actually known about this for a long time.
‘I am old enough to have been in this place before where we have prolonged, protracted disputes. And at the end of the day the courses were covered, the results were done. In fact, particularly with Leaving Certs, we don’t just let them out there, loose. They are set a course of study (to work on during the dispute).
‘It actually means that teachers will have an even bigger work load when they come back from the picket line in terms of corrections. In one way it is a like a taster for what will be ahead of them next year (in third level) when it won’t be a case of someone looking for their homework every day.’