Published: 09 February 2009

Union tells teachers to focus "on core activities"

Source: Irish Examiner
TEACHERS and lecturers in one of the country's largest unions are being asked not to co-operate with school inspections or performance assessments just days after having a pension levy imposed on them by the Government.

The move by the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), while not an official directive, appears to be a strong signal of the anger felt by its members about the levy and the cancellation of two planned pay rises under previous social partnership arrangements.

However, TUI general secretary Peter MacMenamin said the decision by the union executive was not a reaction to the pay cuts.

"It's saying that we're trying to protect frontline services and it's in protest at the education cuts already announced in the budget, many of which come into effect in September," he said.

"We're telling members to concentrate on their core activities of teaching and lecturing in the classroom," Mr MacMenamin added.

The executive is recommending that members do not engage in inspection procedures or voluntary supervision and substitution in second-level schools, or performance management assessment procedures for members working at institutes of technology.

The union is also likely to seek agreement from fellow teacher unions, particularly the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), to take similar measures when it is expected to meet early next week.

The ASTI's leadership is already considering the level of future co-operation with school planning, inspections, taking part in meetings outside school time and other arrangements on which future pay rises had depended.

Any directive to TUI's 12,000 members on such measures could be deemed industrial action, as inspection and assessment procedures have been agreed under Towards 2016 and earlier social partnership deals.

Mr MacMenamin said, however, that partnership is over for now.

"In the eyes of the TUI it died last Tuesday when the Taoiseach imposed what had been rejected the previous night," he said.

Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe's spokesperson said last night that the Department of Education will consider the contents of the TUI statement.

The levy announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen this week is expected to raise €1.4 billion in extra pension contributions from the country's public servants, including about 60,000 teachers and lecturers.

The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) is already planning a meeting of all branch and district officers ahead of consultations with its 29,000 members on how to respond to the Government's controversial decision.