Union leader frets over disconnect with membership [IrishTimes]
- Published: 28 April 2011
AN INCREASING disconnect is emerging between the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and thousands of second-level teachers in staffrooms countrywide, the union’s general secretary Pat King acknowledged yesterday.
His admission – made during a keynote address to the union conference – comes after only 38 per cent of the union’s 18,000 members voted in the February ballot on the Croke Park agreement.
Mr King said attendance at branch meetings had fallen away dramatically. Typically, a Dublin branch with over 800 members would struggle to muster a quorum, he said.
He told delegates: “The problem of falling branch attendances has been with us for many years. It is not a new problem but in recent times it has become critical. Some branches are barely functioning; some find it impossible to appoint branch officers; some are required to duplicate branch officerships. We have to be honest and truthful about this.”
Mr King said he sensed the problem was no longer just that of members staying away from meetings.
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