NO SIGN OF SCHOOLS OPENING
SIX Dundalk secondary schools remained closed today (Tuesday) as ASTI strike action saw teachers take to the picket lines.
Indeed, there appears no end in sight to the dispute which saw schools shut on Monday, and ‘until further notice’ after ASTI confirmed its members would not take on supervision or substitution duties.
Dundalk teacher Denyse Hughes, who is the regional representative on the ASTI Standing Committee, told the Argus: ‘ Not one teacher wants to be on the picket line this morning. We all want to be in class teaching.’
‘We cannot believe the government have let it go this far, and are not prepared to make any meaningful movement on these issues.’
The strike action centres on the issue that teachers who entered the profession after 2010 are on different pay scales than their colleagues even though they have the same duties and responsibilities.
The pay for new teachers was cut by 10 per cent in 2011 and the following year, most pay allowances above the basic salary scale (e.g. allowance for obtaining a Master’s Degree) were abolished for those entering teaching.
‘We are calling for a timeline for the restoration of pay for new teachers coming into the profession.’
‘At the moment, I really couldn’t say I would encourage anyone to go into teaching. There are young people who have no set hours, who have to take on weekend work in order to earn a living. Many cannot afford move out of their parents homes because they are not earning enough.’
She added: ‘ These are not just teachers straight out of college but highly qualified people who have spent five years in university as they had to do an extra two years’ for a Masters degree to enable them to teach,’ she said.
She explained that teachers were reluctantly taking industrial action over the decision not to enter the Lansdowne Road agreement.
‘Our members are opposed to this as they felt their hands would be tied in looking for equal pay for recently qualified teachers if they entered a new agreement,’ she continued.
‘I am working alongside people I taught in the past and some of them are only going home with €200 a week so I feel we have to take a stand,’ she said.
The ongoing schools closure has arisen as teachers say they are due money for supervision and substitution duties after the Haddington Road Agreement, but have been told that they won’t get as they haven’t entered the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
‘ This ever changing situation the government put us in just cannot work. I don’t know any teacher who doesn’t put in extra time before class and after, its part of our commitment to our students.
But for the government to tie our hands over the issues of supervision and substitution is grossly unfair,’ said Denyse.
She said teachers had turned up for work as normal on Monday morning, but were ‘effectively locked out.’
‘ This situation is difficult for everyone. But we want to assure parents that no child will go into a test unprepared. We will make this up. Our students will not suffer as a result.’