The Department of Education and Skills held further discussions with the ASTI today. This follows on from meetings earlier this week and last week.
Talks adjourned without agreement and ASTI have indicated that their directive on withdrawing from supervision and substitution duties from tomorrow Monday still stands. This means that hundreds of secondary schools will not open tomorrow, and will not be able to open for an indefinite period, as a result of ASTI’s action.
This dispute stems from ASTI’s withdrawal from working the ‘Croke Park Hours’. These are one hour per week, for the 33 weeks of the school year, which are now a core part of teachers’ duties, and which allow schools to hold school planning meetings and parent teacher meetings outside of school time, helping to ensure minimum inconvenience to parents and students. All other public servants work these hours – in most cases several multiples of the one hour per week in the case of teachers.
The Department has communicated on multiple occasions, and reiterated today to ASTI, that there is a deal on the table, including immediate payment for supervision and substitution, a 15-22% increase in pay for newly qualified teachers (details below) and quicker access to permanent, full-time jobs for newer teachers.
The Department has asked the ASTI to cooperate with contingency plans but they have refused. This refusal to cooperate has put our schools in an impossible position where hundreds have been left with no option but to close tomorrow because they can’t meet their duty to protect the health and safety of children.
Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton said:
“I am very disappointed that ASTI have decided to proceed with their action tomorrow. This will cause huge disruption for 200,000 students, and their parents, with particular stress caused for those in exam years.
“ASTI have effectively decided to close hundreds of schools indefinitely, as a result of a dispute which essentially relates to one hour a week of additional duties.
“Tomorrow’s withdrawal from supervision and substitution duties, and consequent closure by ASTI of hundreds of schools, is explicitly not about new entrants pay, but about the Croke Park Hours - one extra hour each week for the 33 weeks of the school year.
“There is a good deal on the table, and I would again urge ASTI to consider it seriously, so that we can end this dispute and limit the disruption to parents and students.
“I am also disappointed that the ASTI refused to cooperate with any contingency plans, both not allowing their principals to co-operate, and by not giving schools enough time to advertise, recruit and have external supervisors Garda vetted. As a result, hundreds of schools will be forced to close tomorrow to protect the health and safety of students and staff”.
Notes to Editor
Croke Park Hours– 33 hours per year
The ASTI's decision in July 2016 to withdraw from carrying out the Croke Park Hours – 33 hours per year, agreed under the Croke Park agreement, to allow schools to carry out activities like school planning meetings and parent-teacher meetings – is at the root of today’s dispute.
ASTI's decision to withdraw from the Croke Park hours resulted in the Department withdrawing from ASTI members the benefits of the LRA, including additional payment for supervision and substitution – supervising breaktimes, lunchtimes etc (see complete list of benefits in bullet list below). This in turn resulted in ASTI balloting to withdraw indefinitely from carrying out supervision and substitution from Monday 7th.
The Minister has indicated previously that if the ASTI suspend their directive to not work the Croke Park Hours, then his Department would immediately make available the benefits of the Lansdowne Road agreement, including payment for Supervision and Substitution duties.
The Croke Park hours are part of wider productivity measures introduced under the Lansdowne Road Agreement that require all public servants to work additional time for no additional payment.
Across the public services – education, health, local authorities, civil service etc. - the additional time being provided represents about 450,000 additional hours per annum or the equivalent of between 12,000 and 13,000 public service posts. That is a serious productivity benefit for the Exchequer. Replacing those hours would cost hundreds of millions of euro. Most public servants work significantly more than the one hour extra per week for 33 weeks that are worked in the education sector.
Before the Croke Park hours were introduced, these activities ate into tuition time. This meant that schools closed for full days or half days in order to carry them out, causing interruption to tuition and significant inconvenience for parents, as well as child care costs – particularly for primary parents.
School Openings
The Department has been informed by the School Management Bodies that approximately 400 schools will close on Monday on health and safety grounds, affecting approximately 200,000 students.
Contingency Planning
Department officials have remained in regular contact with the school management bodies on contingency arrangements ahead of the withdrawal of supervision and substitution from tomorrow. However, at this stage it remains the case that widespread school closures are expected due to the ASTI’s industrial action and non-cooperation with contingency.
ASTI refused to agree to two requests from the Department to facilitate contingency planning – that ASTI-member principals be allowed to cooperate with contingency planning, and that sufficient notice be given to allow schools to recruit alternative supervisors. ASTI’s failure to cooperate with these requests mean that it will be extremely difficult for affected schools to open.
ASTI’s position that they will not cooperate with contingency arrangements will lead to widespread closure of schools from 7th November when ASTI members withdraw from carrying out supervision and substitution duties.
Review of usage of Croke Park Hours
In response to teacher concerns regarding the use of the Croke Park hours, the Department agreed with TUI and INTO to carry out a review of their usage. This review, which also involves the school management bodies, began earlier this month.
The review provides for an up-front increase in the quantum of time allowed for planning and development work on other than a whole-school basis. The original Croke Park Agreement provided that all Croke Park hours (36 for primary and 33 for post-primary annually) would be worked on a whole-school basis. The Haddington Road Agreement provided that up to 5 of the hours could be worked on a less than whole-school basis (e.g. small groups of subject teachers). The recent agreement increases this maximum to 8 hours in September 2016 and 10 hours in September 2017.
New Entrant Pay
There is a deal on offer to ASTI which would see pay increases of 15% and 22% for new entrant teachers (details below), with a route to further possible increases after that.
Under the proposed deal for new entrant teachers which is being implemented for the INTO and the TUI and which is potentially on offer to the ASTI:
· The starting pay for new entrant members will increase by 15% between 31 August 2016 and 1 January 2018 (from €31,009 to €35,602).
· An individual member recruited since 1 September 2015 will see a 22% increase in their pay between 31 August 2016 and 1 January 2018 (from €31,009 to €37,723).
The benefits of the Lansdowne Road Agreement are not just for new teachers. Teachers with longer service will benefit as well.
· For example, an existing Teacher with 11 years service who is co-operating with the Lansdowne Road Agreement will see her/his payincrease by 9% from August 2016 to January 2018 – from 45,222 to 49,436. This includes salary increases worth 5.7%, rising to a 9% increase when the payment of increment is factored in.
In terms of career earnings, these deals which have been done restore approximately three quarters of the reductions for new entrants put in place since 2011
As Minister Bruton has said, this is an unnecessary dispute. Both issues in the dispute have been dealt with for other unions. We again call on ASTI to engage in meaningful talks in order to resolve the dispute.
Payment for Supervision and Substitution
The Department has also offered on multiple occasions that if ASTI suspend their industrial action, including their withdrawal from Croke park hours which are worked by every public servant (less than one hour a week in the case of teachers), then the Department would be in a position to immediately make a payment for supervision and substitution, and ASTI members would receive the other benefits and protections of the Lansdowne Road Agreement, including access to permanent, full-time jobs more easily and quickly than before, as proposed in the Ward Report.
Benefits of Lansdowne Road Agreement
In addition to the agreed improvement in pay for new teachers, the following benefits apply to teachers covered by the Lansdowne Road Agreement:
• Avoiding a 2 year increment freeze;
• Addition of the S&S allowance of €1,592 into the teacher pay scale;
• The Ward Report measures and a revised sequence for filling posts which enable fixed-term and part-time teachers to gain permanent, full-time jobs more easily and quickly than before;
• Continued alleviation of the FEMPI Act pay reductions;
• An increase in the quantum of the Croke Park hours that can be worked on other than a whole-school basis;
• A review of the usage of the Croke Park hours; and
• Protection against compulsory redundancy.