Teacher strikes possible as ASTI to ballot over redundancy fears

SECONDARY school teachers could be the latest public servants to test the mettle of the Government with strike action.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) is to ballot members on industrial action, up to and including strike action, in an effort to avoid redundancies.

Some ASTI teachers in schools where there are surplus staff are at risk of losing their jobs ever since the Department of Education removed protections against redundancy from ASTI members – but not from non-ASTI teachers – because the union is outside of the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

At a meeting of the union’s 180-member Central Executive Committee in Dublin yesterday, a decision was taken to ballot members in the coming weeks.

ASTI president Ed Byrne said there was no reason for redundancies and that the union was being victimised.