Sir, – The article "Secondary schools plunged into chaos over one hour's additional work a week" (November 7th) is a misrepresentation of the reasons for school closure, failing, as it does, to make any reference to the Haddington Road Agreement.
Supervision and substitution duties have nothing to do with Croke Park hours, other than doing them without payment is part of the completed Haddington Road Agreement, and continuing to do them is part of an agreement that ASTI teachers have not signed up to.
Teachers have done everything we agreed to do. Withdrawal from supervision and substitution is not a breach of contract. The Government’s failure to pay teachers, as agreed under the Haddington Road Agreement, for those duties from September 2016 was the breach that has caused the withdrawal.
Withdrawal from supervision and substitution has been on the cards since the ASTI convention in March. If schools have closed it is because the department believed that it could force teachers into the Lansdowne Road Agreement without fulfilling promises from a previous agreement and failed to plan adequately for that not coming to pass.
We accepted our pay cuts during the financial crisis, we fulfilled our Croke Park hours, we did supervision and substitution duties unpaid, and we kept our word. Can the Government say the same? – Yours, etc,
RICHARD TERRY,
Fermoy, Co Cork.