THIS LETTER SHOULD BE PLACED ON THE STAFF NOTICE BOARD AND COPIES CIRCULATED TO ALL ASTI MEMBERS.

Dear School Steward,

On 31stJanuary 2012 the Department issued circular 03/2012 to schools. This circular imposes a freeze on payment of certain allowances to teachers who are ‘new beneficiaries’ of these allowances.

This circular arises from decisions by Government in the December Budget. In breach of normal practice, there were no negotiations/consultations with the teacher unions about the text of the circular prior to its issue. This has resulted in the issuing of a circular that is unclear in certain aspects and which unfairly targets some teachers.

Newly appointed teachers who have already been singled out for severe pay cuts are once again targeted through the freezing of their qualification and supervision and substitution allowances. Bizarrely, teachers who are appointed to Assistant Principal Posts of Responsibility from 1st February 2012 will have their post allowances frozen. We have consulted the ASTI solicitors in this regard. The freezing of these allowances remains in place until the Public Service wide Review of Allowances is completed.

The Government’s Budget proposes a 5% cut in public service allowances this year, with a 5% cut in 2013 and a further 10% cut in 2014. It will remain unclear until the public service allowance review is completed in late February how the Government proposes to apply these cuts in future.

ASTI has publicly condemned these unilateral actions by Government. We wrote formally to the Minister for Education and Skills and the ASTI, TUI, and INTO General Secretaries met with the Secretary General of the Department on Friday last (3rd February). The unions will now make a formal submission to the Department.

This letter and the attached information document should be made available to all ASTI members immediately.

With every good wish.

Yours sincerely

______

Pat King Brendan Broderick

GENERAL SECRETARY PRESIDENT

7February 2012

FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF ALL ASTI MEMBERS

DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 03/2012

Review of Allowances

The text of this circular which has been sent to all schools and further ASTI advice can be found on

POSTS OF RESPONSIBILITY

If an Assistant Principal Post is advertised, ASTI members should apply in the normal way. If an existing SDT post holder is offered the post, he/she should formally accept the appointment and write to the Board/Manager/CEO in the following terms:

I am writing to advise you that I hereby accept your offer of the post of responsibility of Assistant Principal on the strict condition that it is agreed that I will not take up any of the duties and will not assume any of the responsibilities which attach to this post of responsibility until such time as I receive confirmation from you that the allowance which currently applies to this post of responsibility (being€8,520) will be paid to me and on the strict condition that, in the interim, I will continue to carry out the duties attaching to my current SDT post of responsibility and will continue to be paidthe applicable allowance for same.

(If a non post holder is offered the post then delete the reference to SDT post in the last few lines) If there is a dispute regarding this matter then an ASTI Industrial Relations Official should be contacted immediately.

SUPERVISION & SUBSTITUTION

As the Department has unilaterally imposed the freezing of Supervision & Substitution payments to ‘new beneficiaries’ of the S&S allowance, ASTI members are advised as follows:

  • Members should operate the S&S scheme’s rotas as they have been applied up to now.
  • Members should note that 90 minutes per week of S&S is the maximum thatthey can be required to do.
  • In the event that a gap arises in the schools S&S arrangements due to the Department’s refusal to pay the allowances to ‘new beneficiaries’ ASTI members should not ‘fill that gap’ without payment.
  • ‘New beneficiaries’ should not participate in the S&S scheme without a written guarantee by school management of payment.
  • Under no circumstances should any pressure be brought to bear on newly appointed teachers to participate in Supervision Substitution on an unpaid basis.

QUALIFICATION ALLOWANCES

The ASTI position is that qualification allowances are part of the pay of teachers. The freezing of the allowances for certain newly appointed teachers is unacceptable, particularly on top of the pay cuts and salary scale change imposed on them last year. The ASTI is considering initiating cases under equality legislation on behalf of these members. Any such teacher who wishes to take such a case with ASTI support should send their details to the ASTI General Secretary. N.B. for a teacher appointed on 1st September the latest date for lodging a complaint under Equality Legalisation is 29th February (6 month Rule).

Pat King

GENERAL SECRETARY 7th February 2012