Teachers unlikely to face penalties for strike next week

It seems increasingly unlikely that financial penalties will be applied to thousands of second level teachers who plan to go on strike next week.

On Friday a spokeswoman for Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said it was not constructive to talk about financial penalties being applied.

About 19,000 members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) plan to hold a one-day stoppage on Tuesday, February 4th over the two-tier pay issue in schools, which sees new entrants into the profession paid less than longer-serving colleagues.

The strike is likely to lead to the closure of hundreds of second-level schools.

In 2016 the Government imposed financial penalties on members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) after they were considered to have “repudiated” the public service agreement by taking industrial action.

Members of the ASTI lost out on about €15 million in payments such as increments and other benefits as a result.

However, the Government opted not to impose similar financial sanctions on members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) following their strike last year.

The Department of Public Expenditure has previously stated it would consider “in due course” whether financial penalties would be applied on members of the TUI if they went on strike as scheduled next Tuesday.

The department subsequently declined to make any further comment on the issue.

On Friday a spokeswoman for Mr Donohoe said: “It’s not constructive to talk about penalties. TUI should engage with the processes under the (public service ) agreement to deal with their issues.”

The planned strike by TUI members is in protest at continuation of the controversial two-tier pay system in place for teachers recruited since 2011.

The dispute is aimed at making what the union described as “pay discrimination” a key political issue in the general election campaign.

Members of the ASTI will not be involved in the strike next week.

The ASTI issued instructions to members including principals and deputies not to provide cover for their striking colleagues during the forthcoming stoppage by TUI members on February 4th.

The ASTI told members they should turn up for work as normal on February 4th on the basis that if they refused to work on the day, they would be deemed to be engaging in unofficial industrial action. The union says ASTI members would be paid even if their school was closed as a result of the TUI strike.

Crucially, the union guidance states that “no member of ASTI, including principal teachers, deputy principal teachers and/or other post holders may undertake any duties that are normally done by colleagues who are members of TUI”.

The union’s instruction to members also stated: “No ASTI member can undertake the supervision/substitution duties of an absent TUI colleague on 4th February who will be engaged in industrial action. Redesign of the roster with a view to having ASTI members cover supervision slots normally undertaken by TUI colleagues is not acceptable.”

The move means that most secondary schools will shut on health and safety grounds, even if only a small number of teachers are TUI members.