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ADVICE TO MEMBERS ON CONTINUING INDUSTRIAL ACTION

The Central Executive Committee at its January meeting reviewed the position in relation to on-going UTU industrial action. It was agreed that as talks on the Pensions had not yet produced a result acceptable to the majority of teachers the current industrial action should continue.
It was noted that the Minister had announced the injection of an additional £120million into the schools budget. In light of this it was agreed that the industrial action should not be escalated at this point.

The Management Side of the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee recently wrote to schools to advise that they were considering what action they might take to penalise those teachers who are in breach of contract. If the employing authorities initiate any action to penalise teachers as a result of taking lawful industrial action then further advice will be issued to you.

The continuing industrial action is as follows:

•  No UTU member is to co-operate with school inspectors. This includes non-involvement in school inspections, non-cooperation with school inspectors who visit the school for any purpose and no communication of data of any kind to the ETI.

• No UTU member is to return any pupil assessment data to the Department of Education. Teachers should continue to administer the appropriate tests but retain this information for their own use.

Further Advice

• The UTU representative should inform the Principal that the action is continuing.
• The Principal should advise any member of the ETI who contacts the school that the UTU & INTO members are taking part in industrial action, giving an indication of the numbers involved.
• If the Principal is a UTU or INTO member s/he should have no further discussion with the Inspector about any aspect of the school’s work.
• No documentation of any kind should be supplied by UTU or INTO members to the Inspector, including policies, records and general information.
• If an Inspector arrives at your classroom you should advise him or her that you are taking part in legitimate industrial action following a ballot and that you cannot continue teaching while s/he remains. You should have some work available for pupils to do until the Inspector leaves the classroom. If preferred, you can simply hand him or her this advice sheet.
• If the Inspector persists then please contact UTU Headquarters to report the matter and it will be taken up at Department of Education level by UTU and INTO. Teachers should not be subjected to harassment of any kind as a result of taking lawful industrial action.
• Do not worry that non-cooperation with the Inspectorate will lead to any discrimination against you personally or the school in general. The Inspection should simply be re-scheduled. There can be no form of victimisation just because this happens and UTU will be closely monitoring this.
• If you have any concerns please do not hesitate in contacting UTU Headquarters to speak to an Official. Alternatively, where there are whole school concerns then please request a visit from an Official or the President.

Pension talks are continuing and we are hoping that a positive outcome will allow schools and teachers to return to normal at the earliest opportunity. We intend to monitor the situation on a monthly basis and call special meetings of the Central Executive Committee to respond to any new offers that may potentially move matters on.

The UTU President and Central Executive Committee thank you for your participation in the industrial action to date. The drastic changes proposed to the Pension Scheme meaning that teachers will pay more, work longer and get less at the end of their career, along with huge cuts to the Education budget which will impact so negatively on schools have made it necessary for teachers to take action.  We thank you for making this stand in defence of what you believe in.