Last week, ASTI second-level teachers voted by a large majority in favour of a programme of strikes and industrial action in pursuit of a special pay increase. Secondary teachers are not a radical group. They preferred to pursue improvements in their pay through negotiations. They have been prevented from so doing by the Government, which, like the master of a sinking ship clinging to the mast while the ship slips beneath the waves, is trying to preserve the wholly inadequate pay agreement associated with the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
The ASTI submitted its pay claim in March this year to the negotiating machinery which was established only last year for negotiating on teachers' pay and conditions. The ASTI processed its claim through the machinery to arbitration. The Arbitration Board, which is designed to be a body with independence from the unions and the Government, failed to arbitrate on the issues raised in the detailed ASTI submission to the board; it merely addressed one of the five criteria by which it is supposed to assess claims, and that criterion was the one requiring it to take account of any national agreement between the Government, employers and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The ASTI is not a party to such agreements, having left the ICTU last January in order to pursue the pay interests of its members outside the restrictions of such agreements.
The ASTI believes that its members have specific grounds for an increase beyond that provided for in national agreements. Secondary teachers have transformed the second-level education service over the past decade. They have shown considerable restraint in not pursuing pay rises while participating in large-scale restructuring of the second-level education system. They did this in the understanding that when the economy improved, they would be adequately rewarded for their significant and continuing contribution to Irish education. This has not happened.
Education is the economy's single most important competitive advantage. The strategic importance of education has been a consistent theme in most influential economic reports. Economists and international corporations have identified Ireland's well educated population as a key factor influencing investment in the economy and increased global competitiveness.
Curriculum changes have ensured that all students now have the opportunity to develop skills and abilities to aid them in their future lives. For example, new subjects have been added to the curriculum, such as information technology and civic, social and political education (CPSE) - and the senior cycle has been restructured to comprise Transition Year, the established Leaving Certificate, Leaving Certificate Applied and Leaving Certificate Vocational.
The quality of our education service is dependent directly on the quality of input from teachers. It is therefore vital that teaching continues to recruit and retain high-calibre people. A recent survey carried out by the ASTI revealed that almost three-quarters of second-level schools in Ireland have experienced difficulties recruiting qualified teachers in at least one subject area since the start of the current school year.
In fact, the situation is so bad that many principals have been forced to employ unqualified people to teach subjects, while others have had to drop subjects altogether. This is clear evidence that teaching is no longer seen as a financially rewarding career. Graduates are being lured into more lucrative careers, and even qualified teachers are leaving the profession for more highly remunerated employment. Teachers' pay levels are severely depressed compared to other graduate entry-level employment. In the private sector, workers with similar entry qualifications to teachers earn significantly higher incomes for longer periods of their working lives. Even in terms of public sector employment, teachers' pay has fallen behind that of the other professional groups.
No other public sector professional group has a salary scale as long as teachers; most teachers do not reach the maximum for at least 23 years. A recent OECD publication reported a "substantial" gap of almost $10,000 between the earnings of a secondary teacher in Ireland after 15 years' service and the earnings of other graduate employees after the same length of service.
Increases for other unions
In recent months, second-level teachers have watched other trade unions negotiating pay increases for their members above the terms of the national agreements. Despite this, the Government's only response to the ASTI's pay claim has been to offer the terms of the PPF.
ASTI members are not alone in recognising that teachers' pay levels are inadequate. Both the INTO and TUI have also declared that they wish to achieve a substantial pay increase for their members. They are pursuing that objective through the national agreement. The strategies pursued by the unions to achieve the objective may be different, but they are all pursuing the same objective.
Last Friday, the ASTI announced its intention to undertake a State-wide one-day strike on November 14th. This is likely to be followed by a series of regional one-day strikes in the run-up to Christmas. Other forms of industrial action, such as withdrawal from voluntary school-yard supervision and withdrawal from providing cover for absent colleagues, may also come into effect.
ASTI members have voted reluctantly in favour of an escalating programme of industrial action, which includes full withdrawal of labour and withdrawal of work in relation to exams, because the Government continues to refuse to respond constructively and positively to its claim.
Teaching is a difficult and demanding task in modern society. Teachers are dedicated to the welfare of their pupils. They do not want to strike. But neither do they want to stand by and watch the demise of their profession due to the failure to maintain its attractiveness in pay terms to young graduates. Last week ASTI members voted for much more than the pursuit of a salary increase. They voted to safeguard the future of their profession, the future of Ireland's education system, the future life chances of their pupils and the future of the Irish economy.
Charlie Lennon is general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI).
