PUBLIC SECTOR DEAL:THE PUBLIC service agreement asks too much of teachers and offers nothing in return, delegates were told during heated exchanges at the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) annual convention in Galway yesterday.
Delegates voted unanimously in favour of the motion which calls on the union’s central executive committee to recommend the rejection of the agreement in a ballot of members.
The motion was proposed by the union standing committee which has already expressed its “total and vehement opposition” to the agreement.
Teachers expressed serious concern about the deal which guarantees no more pay cuts before 2014 in exchange for a redeployment scheme for surplus teachers, a non-contractual teaching hour, a revision of the teaching contract to maximise teaching time and an extra period of availability for supervision and substitution duties.
Jim O’Dea (Dublin South) pointed out that no details have been provided on the nature of the proposed redeployment.
In response to the proposed extra hour, Sally Maguire (Stillorgan) asked: “What about the countless hours that every teacher does every week?”
Greta Harrison (West Mayo) insisted that pay cuts lay ahead in the form of tax hikes while Fergal Canton (Kilkenny) warned that, “class size will be determined by Seán FitzPatrick’s bottomless billion debt”. The anger grew as more speakers queued to talk.
Kieran Christie (Sligo) said: “This is a great deal for the Government, but a rotten deal for us. They’re asking us to be the generation that decides that future teachers will be yellow pack teachers.”
Transformation of the education system that was being asked of teachers was already taking place, Eddie McCarthy (Fingal) insisted. He cited the successful integration of international students, as well as the introduction of programmes like the Leaving Cert Applied, the Leaving Cert Vocational Programme and Project Maths as examples.
Things became heated when Bernard Lynch (Dublin South) took to the podium with a rallying speech. Referring to the pay agreement, he said “this document should be thrown aside”. He then went on to criticise the editor of The Irish Times Geraldine Kennedy for calling teachers selfish in an editorial late last year while earning “a salary of €400,000 per annum”.
Union leaders also fell victim to Mr Lynch’s anger when he likened them to Cheryl Cole’s hair before the L’Oréal contract. “Weak, limp, dull and straw-like,” he quipped, to laughter and applause.
The teachers’ situation was contrasted with that of Anglo Irish Bank managers who, when they assumed extra responsibilities, were given a pay rise.
“The deal is an insult to public servants,” said Tony Boland (Wexford). “We didn’t create the economic abyss.”
Gerry Murphy (Dublin South Central) asked: “How did the blame for the economic crisis shift from the criminals in the private sector to the workers in the public sector?”
Susie Hall (Dublin North East) said the deal had “nothing to offer for what we are about to give. . . This is not a deal, it’s blackmail.”
The level of anger was welcomed by Mike Moriarty (Athlone) who said: “We’re moving from being a middle class pressure group to being a trade union.”
Delegates applauded when he paid tribute to the passport office workers who “fought the good fight for us”.
Tomorrow, the 180-strong central executive committee will meet in Galway and decide whether to accept the deal, reject it – or the most likely scenario – to ballot members about it.