Thursday, March 29, 2012

Updates- 29/3/12

Here is a series of Updates on Current Issues:

Allowances:      NB!!     NB !!
Yesterday, Minister Ruairi Quinn in reply to a Question from Fine Gael TD Jim Daly, revealed the cost of Allowances in 2011. The total for Primary Schools Teachers was 313 million. This is ahead of an expected announement (already a month late) from Minister Brendan Howlin as the Department of Public Expenditure conducts a review of Public Service Allowances, with view of saving 5% this year, 10% next year and a further 10%.
Minister Quinn's announcement paints a picture of 'a pot of gold' for teachers, but for NQTs and Graduates, that is not the case, having already taking a 20% salary cut since 2008.

INTO Ass. General Secretary Noel Ward reacted by saying that 'These are allowances considered part of pay protected by the Croke Park Agreement, and we will strongly resist any attacks on these allowances.
Click here for the RTE News clip, and the above reaction from Noel Ward.

NQTs and Graduates must be prepared for what may come, and be ready to mount a serious campaign.
An update on issues will be forthcoming, including when the Review is published.


Teaching Council:
The new Teaching Council has been elected this week. But another significant announcement has been made. The fee for Teaching Council Registration, currently 90 euro per annum, has been reduced to 65 euro. This welcomed progress after much pressure from the INTO Membership, and is a step in the right direction.

INTO Congress 2012:
The Motions up for debate for Congress 2012 in Killarney cover a wide range of areas. Members of the NQT Group will be Delegates at Congress, and will be speaking on motions pertaing to NQTs and others. On the basis of NQT motions, there are a positive number. Here they are:

Item 3:
Congress:
a. condemns the continued targeting of the pay and conditions of NQTs;
b. instructs the CEC, in conjunction with other public service unions, to
step up its campaign of action to have these reductions to starting
salaries rescinded;
c. endorses the INTO’s Claim to the Equality Tribunal that this salary cut
amounts to discrimination on the age ground;
d. commits the INTO to seeking to equalise teachers’ pay scales through
seeking a preferential increase for teachers on the 2011 reduced
scales at the first and every subsequent opportunity, where salaries
are being increased, until such time as the scales are equalized.


Item 6:
Congress:
a. notes with concern that despite the stated intention of the Minister for
Education and Skills in June 2011 to commence Section 30 of the
Teaching Council Act unamended, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012
will in effect enshrine in legislation the right of unqualified personnel
to work and be paid as teachers in Irish primary schools;
b. instructs the CEC to:
(i) urgently seek a meeting with the Minister for Education and
Skills to demand the immediate commencement of Section 30 of
the Teaching Council Act unamended;
(ii) withdraw all cooperation from the Teaching Council and calls on
all members of the Teaching Council who have sought INTO
endorsement to resign from the Teaching Council if the
Education (Amendment) Bill 2012 is passed into law.


Item 7:
Congress:
a. notes the terms of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) Bill 2011;
b. believes the changes as contained in the Bill are not justified on
evidence of cost or otherwise;
c. reaffirms INTO’s strong opposition to the diminution of Public Service
pension terms for new entrants which is part of the attack on
workers’ occupational pensions across the private and public sectors;
d. notes the campaign of lobbying and publicity, and the strike by INTO
members in Northern Ireland on 30 November 2011, as part of the
INTO’s efforts to protect the pension terms of existing and future
members in both jurisdictions on the island; and
e. calls on the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to
immediately carry out an updated actuarial review of teachers’
pension terms, as provided for in Section 40 of the Bill, and to revise
the contributions of, and benefits to, new entrant teachers affected
by the Bill, on the basis of such review.


Item 12:
Congress:
a. notes the significant contribution that primary teachers make to the
continued development of teaching, learning and research in the Irish
primary education system through their engagement in postgraduate
studies;
b. condemns the government’s decision to abolish Special Education
Diploma/Masters/Doctorate qualification allowances for teachers who
will undertake these courses in the future and the threat to the
payment of the qualification allowances to teachers currently
undertaking these courses;
c. demands that the CEC enter into negotiations with the DES to allow for
the retention of the academic allowances for teachers currently pursuing
courses of study which they began prior to December 5th 2011.
d. further demands that remuneration for extra qualifications be
reinstated.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Teaching Council Elected

The incoming Teaching Council has been elected. You can access the full list of those elected here, or simply view the full primary teachers' list here.

The Council will meet for the first time on Wednesday 28th of March. We urge all NQTs and NPTs to engage with the Teaching Council through members known to them, email, phone, letter, or through any consultation process that takes place. For example, this Friday 30th of March is the deadline for Submissions to the consultation on 'Career Entry Professional Programme' (CEPP). You can access all relevant documents here.

We wish all those newly elected and those re-elected members of the Teaching Council, every success in their term.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Important Panel Right Updates, TC Elections, Next Meeting

Since the issuing of Circulars last week, there have been multiple updates on Panel Rights for a range of teachers. We urge NQTs and NPTs to read the cirucular, information sheets. In addition to this it will be important to attend one of the many information meetings organised by the INTO.

The circulars, FAQ info, and the meeting dates can be found here

The next meeting in Dublin will be on Thursday 15th March, at 4.30pm in the Teacher's Club, Parnell Square

In other news, The Teaching Council have re-issued Ballot papers to members after a typographical fault with the previously issued papers. Do not hesitate to research or contact the candidates in your constituency to sound out their priorities and beliefs for NQTs and NPTs, if they succeed in being elected to the Teaching Council as an INTO representative.

Finally, the date of our NQT/NPT Pre-Congress Meeting is Wednesday 21st March in The Teacher's Club, with time TBC. All will recieve an email about it in due course, hopefully today, with an Agenda for the meeting also.