Secondary school teachers across the country will strike later this month after strongly endorsing action over stalled collective agreement negotiations.
Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Chris Abercrombie said the decision followed a vote of members and a last-minute offer from the Government which was “worse than the previous one”.
“Ten minutes before we were due to meet, the Government presented us with another offer for settlement of the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement, with a condition it would lapse if strike action was notified,” Abercrombie said.
“As we have not had any bargaining since early September, to present an offer in this way was rushed and poorly thought out on the Government’s part.
“I’m sorry to say that in several ways it was worse than the previous offer, so we have proceeded with calling the strike action.”
The strike will involve around 21,000 secondary and area school teachers. It includes rolling partial strikes by year level from Tuesday, October 14, a full-day national strike on October 23, a ban on extracurricular activities on October 29, and a two-hour national strike on November 5.
Abercrombie said the offer failed to address key issues, including pay rates that keep pace with inflation and increased staffing for student pastoral care.
He also pointed to this week’s Teaching and Learning International Survey, which found keeping up with changing requirements is a major source of stress for teachers.
“We are currently hundreds of teachers short, which means thousands of students are being taught by teachers who are not specialists in the relevant subject. We have seen students being sent home this year because there are simply not enough teachers to take classes,” it said.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche questioned whether the PPTA was committed to reaching a deal.
“Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reach a resolution,” he said. “We’ve done as much as we can to accommodate them.”
Sir Brian rejected the union’s claim that the offer was last-minute, calling it “deeply misleading and disappointing”.
“It’s frustrating the PPTA is unwilling to continue negotiations, despite progress remaining possible. It leaves me to reflect on whether there was ever a real possibility of the PPTA not undertaking strike action.”
