site search by freefind

 

To: School Representatives

Our Ref: 139/519

22nd November 2011

Dear Colleague,

INDUSTRIAL ACTION

I recently wrote to you to inform you of the result of the UTU ballot for Industrial Action. Although the majority of UTU members who voted opted to take strike action (60%) this did not give us the two-thirds majority required (66.67%) under our Rules and Constitution. We did, however, obtain an 80% mandate for action short of strike.

The Central Executive Committee met yesterday and has asked me to issue the following advice:       
    
ACTION TO BE TAKEN REGARDING 30TH NOVEMBER

1. Establish from your Principal whether or not the school will be closing on that day and pass this information on to all members. If it is closing you should enquire whether UTU members are required to attend or if they may work at home.
   
   

2. If the school is not closing advise members that they should attend but that they SHOULD ONLY TEACH THEIR NORMAL CLASS(ES) ON THAT DAY. They should not take on any duty being left undone by a member of another union taking action on that day.
   
   

3.  It is particularly important that they should not accept any additional pupils into their class, nor should they supervise groups of pupils that they would not normally supervise on that day. Please convey this to the Principal well in advance of 30th November. The UTU also intends to send advice to Principals to reinforce this position.
   
   

4. If members turn up to work and find that there is a demonstration at the school gate they should come in to work as normal. We would encourage teachers not taking action to support their colleagues on such demonstrations as much as possible and provide hot drinks etc. for them if appropriate.
   
   

5. At lunchtime UTU members will have a lunch break of at least 30 mins. During that time, which is a teacher’s own time and not included in directed time, we would encourage UTU members to attend a local ICTU rally if that is feasible within the time frame, or have some kind of event to mark the day.
   
   

6. We would hope that UTU members would not come under criticism from their colleagues in other unions but if so, they should simply point out that it would be illegal for them to take action but that the UTU will be commencing action short of strike action from 1st December.
   
   

7. We would also suggest that those members who wish to SHOULD DONATE ALL OR PART OF THEIR DAY’S SALARY TO A CHARITY OF THEIR CHOICE. This will ensure that colleagues in other unions cannot then be critical that they are the only ones losing money to fight for a cause that all teachers will benefit from.
   
   

8. Please assure UTU members that the Ulster Teachers’ Union is as committed to fighting for Pensions as the other public sector unions – we will simply be carrying on that fight by taking action in a different way. Some of the teaching unions taking strike action on 30th November have no mandate for action beyond that one day.

 

ACTION FROM 1ST DECEMBER 2011

The CEC considered what action might be appropriate to engage in beyond 30th November and has agreed on a rolling programme of action which will escalate if insufficient progress has been made. The first phase of that action will commence on 1st December and the CEC advises:

NO UTU MEMBER SHOULD CO-OPERATE WITH SCHOOL INSPECTORS.
This will include non-involvement in scheduled inspections, non-cooperation with school inspectors who visit the school for any purpose and no communication of data of any kind to the ETI.
UTU WILL BE INFORMING THE ETI THAT THIS ACTION IS TO TAKE PLACE

PLEASE INFORM MEMBERS THAT THE BALLOT PROTECTS TEACHERS TAKING ACTION OF THIS KIND IN SUPPORT OF A TRADE DISPUTE AND THAT THEY CANNOT IN ANY WAY BE DISCIPLINED DURING THE PERIOD COVERED BY THE BALLOT.

EXEMPTION: The CEC has agreed that any school currently in a programme of Intervention following a School Inspection will be exempt from this action.

MEETING OF UTU MEMBERS

Having established from the Principal whether the school is to open on 30th November we would ask that you call a meeting of the UTU members in your school as soon as possible to pass on the above information and to distribute the enclosed copies of Frequently Asked Questions.

If you have any trainee teachers on placement in your school include them in the meeting and advise them that a joint letter has been sent to the Teacher Training Institutions to explain to them what will be happening on 30th November. Under no circumstances should a student teacher be given class responsibility to cover for absent teachers on that day.

FINALLY

We thank you for all your work as UTU Representative, particularly at this difficult time. We appreciate that in some schools UTU Representatives, and indeed members, may be coming under attack from members of other unions. You should simply respond by saying that UTU members must abide by the democratic decision of the ballot and that we will be demonstrating our support through continuing action in the weeks and months to come.

If you feel that it would be useful to have a visit from a UTU Field Officer then please contact Headquarters to arrange a suitable date and time. In the meantime we are only a phonecall away and will be able to respond to your queries very quickly.
We are not actively pursuing the recruitment of teachers from other unions but if anyone approaches you requesting a UTU application form then it is in order to give them one.

Please do not hesitate in contacting me if you have any further queries.

Yours faithfully,

Avril Hall-Callaghan
GENERAL SECRETARY