The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
8,000 KERRY STUDENTS HIT BY TEACHER STRIKE
OVER 8,000 Kerry students still don’t know if their school’s will reopen next Monday as the ASTI’s strike rumbles on.
Last Thursday ASTI members at 18 Kerry schools joined colleagues across the country on the picket line.
The strike affected 8,176 students in the county with only eight Kerry ETB run schools – where all staff are TUI members – open as normal.
Both the ASTI and the Department of Eduction are holding firm with neither side seemingly willing to back down and break the deadlock.
As a result it remains uncertain if the 18 Kerry schools affected by the ASTI action can or will reopen after the mid-term break.
The union has urged its members not to sign forms circulated in some schools, which asked them if they are available for supervision and substitution when schools are due to re-open on Monday week, November 7.
The letters were issued by the department to school managers to ensure that ASTI members whose schools close due to their refusal to do supervision and substitution will not be paid.
Meanwhile the Government is prepared to offer hourly fees of up to €40 to parents to carry out supervision and substitution duties in the ASTI members’ stead.
This has incensed many Kerry ASTI members who told The Kerryman that they stand to gain an average of just €1.25 a week – just three per cent of the emergency hourly rate being offered to parents – if they agree to resume supervision and substitution duties.
ASTI members have been carrying out these duties without pay for since the current term started.
The second strike day is set for Tuesday November 8, the day after second-level schools return, but it is unclear how many will be scheduled to open anyway in the absence of a resolution. Further strike days have been scheduled for November 16, 24, 29 and December 6 and 7.