Leadership of the ASTI denounces public pay agreement [Independent.ie]
- Published: 02 April 2010
LEADERS OF the secondary teachers' union have come out strongly against the public service pay and reform proposals.
The ASTI's 23-member standing committee has declared: "Too many aspects of the agreement are unacceptable."
The strongly negative message from the ASTI committee cements the division within the ranks of the teacher unions to the controversial draft deal.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Industrial relations 'war' if agreement not accepted [IrishTimes]
- Published: 02 April 2010
ONE OF the State’s leading public service trade union leaders has said that the alternative to the proposed public service pay and reform deal agreed with the Government this week is a prolonged industrial relations war.
Tom Geraghty, general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) and secretary to the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said that while a number of unions had already supported the proposed agreement, he was not surprised there was considerable opposition to it.
However, he said that he had to explain to public service staff that the alternative was worse.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
School defends actions in suicide case [IrishTimes]
- Published: 02 April 2010
SCHOOL OFFICIALS in South Hadley in Massachusetts have attempted to justify their actions in the case of Phoebe Prince (15), an emigrant from Co Clare, who died by suicide in January.
Further details of the girl’s torment emerged this week.
Last Monday, district attorney Elizabeth Scheibel announced grand jury indictments against six named teenagers and three unnamed juveniles for crimes including statutory rape, assault, violation of civil rights and stalking.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
John Walshe: Educators are not getting the credit they deserve [Independent.ie]
- Published: 02 April 2010
WE all know teachers who seem to do the minimum, getting through their classes with little effort and heading off to the golf course or the shops.
But image and reality are two different things. The Behaviour and Attitudes survey, published by the TUI, will be greeted with scepticism by some but bears close scrutiny. It shows that the majority of second-level teachers are working far longer hours than they are generally given credit for.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Review has cut 1,600 special needs posts [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 01 April 2010
MORE than 1,600 special needs assistant (SNA) posts have been cut from pupils with disabilities in a review that is not yet complete, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan revealed last night.
But, she said, 920 of the posts were made redundant because the child the SNA had been assigned to was no longer attending the school.
The remaining 733 SNA jobs went where it was felt the pupils’ care needs had been reduced.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
