'It's just not professional. I have a job. I'm lucky to have a job' [IrishTimes]
- Published: 10 April 2010
Teachers’ unions made headlines this week responding to cuts. What are the views of workaday teachers?
PICTURES OF a shaken Mary Coughlan fleeing the Inismór Suite of the West County Hotel in Ennis gave the impression of a teacher union movement on the rampage this week. Pay cuts, staff cuts and haircuts had bloodied the water, and the delegates went in for the kill.
Truth be told, some union members were angry in the good times, too. For some in the union movement, anger is a policy. Unions attract the most passionate advocates for workers’ rights and within those ranks there are always extreme elements.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Union members may not stomach public pay deal [IrishTimes]
- Published: 10 April 2010
It is too soon to assume it will be rejected, but there is a gut reaction against plan for reform, writes MARTIN WALL
THE DEAL on public service pay and reform agreed between trade unions and the Government last month at Croke Park is not dead yet, but there is no mistaking that it is in very serious trouble.
No ballots have yet been held on the proposals and not all union executives have considered the deal formally. However, assuming that the members of unions’ governing executives and delegates who attend annual conferences are reflective of the mood on the ground, it is obvious that there are serious concerns at grassroots level about the terms of the Croke Park agreement.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Teachers or babysitters — what do we want? [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 10 April 2010
I READ with dismay the animosity being directed toward teachers lately. Perhaps if people do not want to pay teachers to teach, then they should pay for the babysitting service schools and teachers provide on a daily basis, 33 weeks of the year.
€5 per hour is roughly a 50% discount on current childminding rates, times 25 (the average class size), times 24 (the current contact hours each week), times 33 (number of weeks teaching) = €99,000 a year. Yes, please!
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Teachers' patience should not be taken for granted [IrishTimes]
- Published: 10 April 2010
Integration of non-Irish pupils is one of the unsung successes of education, due in large part to teachers’ efforts, writes BREDA O'BRIEN
THE DEATH of any young person in what appears to have been a racially motivated attack is truly shocking. Yet hope can be found in the unity displayed by Toyosi Shitta-bey’s classmates and friends and their utter rejection of racism.
The Irish education system has undergone massive changes during the last 10 years, and one of the unheralded success stories is the degree to which non-Irish pupils have been integrated into schools.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
ASTI to recommend pay deal rejection [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 10 April 2010
THE executive committee of secondary schoolteachers’ union ASTI yesterday confirmed it would be recommending its 18,000 public sector members reject the public service pay deal.
The decision was not unexpected given the hostile reception the deal was given at the union’s annual conference earlier this week.
"The main problem was that they (the executive members) did not feel there was a guarantee in relation to further pay cuts and there was a vagueness around changes to teachers’ contracts," said a spokeswoman for the union.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
