This is a Lockout.
People Before
Profit statement.
The Government and Minister Bruton decided to day to close over 400
secondary schools and lock out both teachers and pupils.
The did this because they want to punish the ASTI for daring to seek
equal pay for newly recruited teachers.
The ASTI are the only union to fight for immediate pay equality in the
public service. All public servants recruited since 2011 are paid significantly
less than their senior colleagues. New teachers can earn around 8000 euro less
for doing the same work.
The Government want to stamp out the example of workers standing up and
fighting for a basic union principle of equal pay for equal work.
It is Kenny and Bruton that have closed our schools, NOT the teachers. While
they are willing to pay teachers in other unions for doing supervision work
they expect ASTI members to do it for free.
The only sin that ASTI members are guilty of is demanding equal pay for
all their members.
We must not let this Government attack on ASTI succeed.
Their tough stance toward the teacher’s simple demand is in stark
contrast to their grovelling to bankers, bondholders and the troika when they
paid off the banks debt by slashing public services and hiking all worker's
taxes.
Parents, pupils and all trade unionists should demonstrate their
support for this fight.
People, before Profit stand 100% behind the teachers in the ASTI and the
many thousands of teachers in other unions who fully support them.
Brid Smith stated last night "The cost of full equality for all
teachers is estimated at about 70 million euro, the Government talks of recovery
in one breadth, but then it says it can’t afford such demands. Yet they
can gift tax breaks to corporations, landlords and the wealthy worth over 100
million in the recent budget, they won’t pay the teachers demand because they
want the recovery to be a recovery of profits for the wealthy, not of workers’
wages"