Donna Marie Leacy, a teacher from Presentation secondary school in Waterford, took to Facebook to outline the situation teachers all across the country are striking against. She also addresses the rampant misinformation being spread by the government and some media outlets.
"The teachers did not, as Enda Kenny said, close the schools. The government did through their inaction. I find it disheartening how the government and many media outlets are misinforming the public. Many people I talk to are unsure of what is really going on."
She goes on to elaborate the two main issues the strike hopes to address: supervision and substitution and the lower paid teachers.
Substitution and supervision
Substitution and supervision is where teachers volunteer to supervise students before school, during breaks and when other teachers are away. Donna explains how this isn't a core duty for teachers and was often done on a voluntary basis for a small stipend. During the financial crisis teachers agreed to do supervision and substitution for free for a period of time.
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"When that period was over, which it is, they would go back to being paid €6 a fortnight to do this. The government reneged on this promise and we are refusing to do this work for free. Therefore, on health and safety grounds students cannot go to school as there is no supervision."
She goes on to outline the government's contingency plan for this issue; hiring outside people to undertake the supervision role on a wage of €19 per hour.
"The reason schools are closed regardless of the contingency plan is that the government argue teachers did not give them enough time as it takes 6 weeks to Garda Vet anyone who wishes to work in a school. But this is incorrect. They have known this would happen since last June, five months ago. Because of all this, today, teachers are sitting in their classrooms, unpaid, wanting to teach, but students cannot enter the premises. "
Lower paid teachers
Lower paid teachers, the second main issue is what the previous strike days have been over.
"LPTs are teachers who qualified after 2011 / 2012 and are now on a completely different pay scale and pension scheme to that of their colleagues," Donna explains.
She then emphasises the key point of the ASTI's position, " We are not looking for a pay rise; we are looking for pay restoration.
For instance; a teacher who qualified in 2013, working 3 years with a first class honours degree and diploma will be earning €9,057 a year less simply because of when they qualified. Again, the government says a deal is on offer to the ASTI, but a teacher at this point of their career would gain absolutely nothing, and would have lost about €27000 so far over their three year career. "
Donna eloquently explained the teacher's position in a way that should make it clear, to everyone that we should be supporting them.
"We want to teach. We want to get our students ready for their exams, ready for life. We upheld our side of the deal. We just want the government to uphold theirs. How can we preach equality to our students in the classroom if we do not have it in the staff room?"
