SCHOOLGOERS in the local area can brace themselves for a teacher strike before the end of term if the Irish National Teachers Organisation ballots in favour of strike action at their next meeting.
Branch Chairperson of the Enniscorthy INTO, and principal of Monageer Andy Hanrahan told The Echo that he imagined that there may be a strike before the end of the current school year but said it would not be held at a time when it would disrupt those doing State exams.
The moves come in the aftermath of the rejection of the Croke Park II deal which was calling for a 10% pay cut for public servants. Now, there are talks of legislating for a 7% pay cut across the board in order to realise savings of €300 million.
Mr. Hanrahan said: “The deal was always going to be rejected. It was asking teachers to take a third pay cut in three years when most have been cut up to 21% already. We were being asked to take another 5.5% cut and a pay freeze, which is really a pay cut when you consider the rise in inflation.”
The branch chairman said that one of the biggest problems with the deal was the changes to the sick pay scheme which would impact on class sizes: “For the first day of sick leave, schools wouldn’t be entitled to a substitute teacher which means the kids get split up into other classes and in a small school that drastically increases the number in a class.
“There seems to be no health and safety issue around crowded classrooms.”
He issued a stark warning to the government as well, saying: “If they go ahead with this 7% pay cut, the likes of Labour can forget about the public sector vote for the next ten years.”
He added that taking €300 million from the public sector was taking it out of the economy altogether: “There has to be another way of getting it.”
Speaking about the likelihood of strikes, Mr. Hanrahan said that if the ballot carried at the next meeting there was likely to be a strike before the end of the current school year: “We’re hoping that strikes will be a last resort. We’ll implement work-to-rule schemes first but if we have to strike we will and it will be to give the government a taste of what is to come”
