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TO: UTU REPRESENTATIVES

To School Representatives

Dear Colleague                                                                 17th January 2012

SEVERANCE PACKAGE

The Minister for Education, John O’Dowd, has just confirmed that the severance package on offer to those who volunteer for redundancy at 31st August 2012 will be THREE times the normal redundancy. Anyone who is interested in finding out how that might apply to them should contact Headquarters and speak to an Official.

SCHOOL BUDGETS

The Minister has also announced an additional £120million is to be made available to schools budgets over the next three years. This will be phased with £30million going into budgets the for 2012/13 followed by £15million the following year and £75million the third year. Schools should expect to have their revised budgets confirmed by the end of January.

INDUSTRIAL ACTION

The Central Executive Committee met on Friday 13th January and reviewed the current programme of industrial action. It was unanimously agreed that since there has been insufficient change in the government’s position on pensions that the UTU industrial action will continue unaltered.

If any member wishes to discuss the action further they should contact any of the full-time Officials or the President of the Union. Visits to schools can be set up where requested and already the President and Officials have visited a number of school to speak to members.

The Chair of Management Side, Barry Mulholland, recently wrote to schools to say that they will be issuing guidance. The UTU will respond to this in due course. It should be noted that the employing authorities “reserve the right” to take action if there is a breach of contract. Since the UTU has lawfully balloted its members this protects members in such situations and the employing authorities have not taken action in the past to censure any union member who has taken lawful industrial action.

The Central Executive Committee will continue to monitor the situation, both locally and in England and Wales, and will review the action on a monthly basis.

PAYMENT OF SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS

It recently came to the Union’s attention that some schools were attempting to pay substitute teachers at point M3 rather than the point they were legally entitled to under the collective agreements on salary. This has been brought to the attention of the Management Side and they have agreed that this should not be happening. The problem seems to be mostly manifesting itself in the Grammar School sector. If any member finds that their salary has been changed unilaterally they should seek assistance from Headquarters.

ALLEGATION OF ASSAULT/ VERBAL ABUSE

2011 saw a record number of UTU members suspended from their jobs due to allegations of abuse, some of which had not even been reported to the school authorities for investigation. It is important that teachers realise how vulnerable they are and that they should take all steps to ensure there is no physical contact unless absolutely necessary. Allegations of verbal abuse are also on the increase and  teachers should ensure that they do not leave themselves open to such accusations. Where an incident or accusation occurs please make sure that members contact Headquarters for advice at the earliest opportunity.

COMMON FUNDING SCHEME

The Draft Terms of Reference have just been produced and the UTU has made comment on them to the Department of Education. The teacher unions are seeking representation on the Advisory Group that will examine the future of funding for schools.

NON-PAYMENT OF INCREMENTS

Many teachers who were entitled to incremental credit from September 2011 have not yet received it in their salaries. We have been assured by Department of Education Officials that this is due to paperwork having to be approved by the DFP and that when it is, full back-payment of the allowances will be made.

RECRUITMENT

At the start of a new year many teachers may be considering whether they have appropriate professional cover. Please approach anyone who you feel may wish to join UTU and offer them literature and a membership form. UTU is the local union with a reputation second to none for supporting teachers in times of difficulty.

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Avril Hall-Callaghan
General Secretary