‘Decision was very difficult’

ONE secondary school teacher in County Wexford said the decision about whether or not to vote for strike action was a ‘very difficult’ one.

The teacher who asked not to be named said that the dispute centred on three keys issues.

‘Personally I found it a very difficult decision. There are three separate strands to this - substitution, pay equality and the Junior Cert which has yet to be resolved.

‘Personally for me I would feel that the issue of pay equality is more important that the other two. I would feel that the TUI and the INTO negotiated in some way to realise something which our crowd (the ASTI) hasn’t done. It was an extremely difficult decision on how to vote but we are in a union and you have to accept the majority vote.

‘My own personal opinion is that there will be at least two days of striking, this Thursday and the following Tuesday. After that I would hope that negotiations would start. It would be terrible to think that this will roll into December without any negotiations taking place.

‘If you look at the timetable a window of negotiation will emerge when we can try and perhaps reach a resolution. Every strike ends with some sort of agreement and this one will be no different.

‘I have huge sympathy for the younger teachers who aren’t earning as much as their colleagues. It hasn’t been an easy decision for any teacher.

‘For the majority of teachers it was a big decision to do this.’

However despite the possibility of a number of strike days parents seem slow to criticise the action according to the teacher.

‘I haven’t heard anything from the parents. But like anything else sometimes these things don’t happen until the strikes actually starts to take place and they see how it affects them. Many of the teachers have their own children in secondary schools, some in exam years, proving that it was a difficult decision to take.’

In terms of getting parents to substitute during the strikes the teacher believes that no school in Wexford has approached parents with a view to implementing this. ‘People have to stand back and think of the practicalities of having parents supervise classes. If nothing else it’s not a long term solution and that’s what we need to negotiate.’ MICHAEL Finn, principal of Ireland’s largest secondary school, Gorey Community School, said it would be hard to see how his school would function if half of his teachers go out on strike on Thursday.

He said that the school’s board of management will ultimately make the decision on closing the 1,576 pupil school, but he hoped the dispute could be resolved before it comes to that.

Approximately half of Gorey Community School’s 130 teachers are members of ASTI, while the others are TUI members.

‘It’s difficult to know where this is going to go,’ said Mr Finn. ‘ The action itself is so strong, that it is going to be brought to a head very quickly.’ He hoped that both sides would come to a solution quickly so a compromise would be found to avert the strike.

‘If the strike goes ahead, it’s hard to see how the school could function, or how classes could go ahead,’ he said. ‘My priority as regards the strike is considering next Thursday, but I would be hopeful of a solution being found.’