800,000 pupils face disruption when teachers walk out
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TEACHERS will be hit in the pocket to the tune of €10.3m after they voted in favour of industrial action.
A typical primary teacher, paid an average of €62,000 a year, will lose €170, before tax, for not working on November 24. For an average second-level teacher, on a slightly higher, salary of €67,000, the day's stoppage will mean a before-tax pay loss of €183.
Teachers yesterday voted almost 4 to 1 in favour of strike action as part of a wider public service protest on Tuesday week.
About 4,000 primary and second-level schools, further education and higher education colleges are set to close for the day if the action goes ahead.
It will force 500,000 primary pupils and 340,000 second-level students to stay at home, causing a headache for working parents, many of whom will have to work out care arrangements.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe last night expressed his disappointment at the ballot: "There's a need to pull together in the national interest and to act in solidarity as Irish citizens in the common good."
The minister said the timing of the strike action was unfortunate given the progress that had been made in talks between the Government and the trade unions in recent weeks.
"At the end of the day, when the ballot was taken, I don't think the talks were making as much progress or making as much engagement are they are now and we are hopeful as a government that those talks can be meaningful and that we can avoid conflict," he said.
Results of ballots from the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) were announced yesterday.
- The INTO voted 79pc in favour, on a turnout of 55pc ,for up to three days strike action.
- The ASTI voted 77pc in favour on a turnout of over 50pc, for a series of strike actions
- The TUI voted 77pc in favour, on a 70pc turnout, for a series of strike actions.
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) had already endorsed action.
"Teachers and lecturers have never before faced such a serious threat to their pay, pensions and terms and conditions," the general secretaries of the four unions representing 65,00 teachers and lecturers said in a statement.
It warned the ballot results were "a signal to the Government that an alternative approach to economic recovery must be adopted".
TUI general secretary Peter MacMenamin said it was "a huge mandate by any standards and a clear indication of the strength of feeling among teachers and lecturers."
INTO incoming general secretary Sheila Nunan said teachers were not prepared to be scapegoated and forced to make an unfair and disproportionate contribution to national recovery and wanted to see a credible plan to retain jobs, protection for homes, incomes and services.
Frustration
Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) general secretary Michael Moriarty said that while he fully appreciated the frustration teachers felt, the IVEA was concerned about the impact that the declared strike action would have on students and their families.
"I am hopeful that the unions will not feel compelled to disrupt further the important work of schools and schooling", he said
- Katherine Donnelly and Ralph Riegel
Irish Independent
