Industrial action by second-level teachers is set to escalate early next month when 50 more schools will be picketed by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI).
Smaller schools with fewer than 10 ASTI members were not picketed during Tuesday's national strike. The ASTI decided this week to change this policy for the next national strike day on December 5th.
It will picket all schools where it has members, including those where the majority of staff are members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), which is currently not taking industrial action. The decision could cause difficulties for TUI members who may not wish to cross the pickets.
Some 650 schools out of 740 will be affected on December 5th. The TUI has so far left the decision on whether to pass pickets to its members.
In another development, the ASTI is seeking to meet the TUI's executive in an effort to build a common strategy.
The ASTI is looking to use the united strength of the secondary teachers' movement to draw concessions from the Government, according a senior teaching source last night.
The next ASTI action is on Wednesday when supervision cover will again be withdrawn.
The ASTI is targeting the TUI in particular because it is also pursuing a pay claim. TUI members are seeking a 20 per cent rise in addition to the 19 per cent included in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF).
The general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), Senator Joe O'Toole, said yesterday that he wanted a deal which compensated his members for inflation and delivered an overall pay rise. If the Government did not deliver, the response would be swift. "This will be done immediately and without the necessity of a ballot and will be followed by the lodgment of a claim, agitation and the initiation of strike action."
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, has asked the Government and teachers to make some "provision" for Leaving Certificate students during the current industrial action.
Dr Connell speaking at graduation day in the Mater Dei Institute in Dublin said many of these students experienced anxiety and pressure in their final year.
"Could I respectfully suggest that measures be considered to assure those young people that appropriate provision will be made to see them safely through the crucial moments of their final year at school," he said.