INTO Annual Congress 2012, 9th, 10th, 11th of April, Killarney.
INTO Congress 2012 will take place in Killarney, Co. Kerry. Keep your eyes peeled for updates occuring here on general and more specific NQT and New-Graduate Issues and Developments, straight from and live from the Gleneagles Hotel.
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salaries rescinded;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.
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.
