TEACHERS WILL NOT supervise children before or after the official school day due to an ongoing public sector pay dispute with the government.

More than 100,000 public sector workers have begun work to rule amid the dispute over pay and the cost of living.

Máirín Ní Chéileachair, assistant general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), said that unless public expenditure minister Jack Chambers “engages with public service unions in good faith” work-to-rule will continue and a 24-hour strike will be held on 14 October.

INTO is the largest teachers’ trade union in Ireland, representing over 46,000 teachers at primary level and around 7,000 at primary and post-primary level in Northern Ireland. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ní Chéileachair said that from Monday, teachers in schools which use the Croke Park hours to provide extra supervision before and after school will no longer supervise students outside of official school hours. 

Croke Park hours are additional working hours that were brought in by the Croke Park and subsequently Haddington Road agreement.

Ní Chéileachair said that the responsibility for the safety of children on the school grounds is that of the school’s board of management.

She said the boards using Croke Park hours have been told to carry out a safety assessment and inform parents that the school cannot be opened until school officially starts if it is not safe for children to be dropped off without supervision. 

Ní Chéileachair said that extracurriculars involving teaching within official school hours will not be impacted, nor will activities teachers voluntarily take part in outside of school hours.

“All the public service unions have balloted their members, and they want the government to enter into talks in good faith with the public service unions to negotiate a new pay agreement,” she said.

She said 60% of INTO members turned up in person to polling stations, and 99.5% said that they were willing to engage in industrial action, up to and including strikes.

An INTO spokesperson told The Journal that teachers will also refrain from attending staff meetings and formal parent/teacher meetings outside of school hours.

Ireland’s main second level teachers union, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) has said that up to 20,000 second-level teachers will also begin industrial action involving withdrawal from selected activities such as the Croke Park hours from Monday.

“In addition, ASTI members will participate in a public-service-wide day of strike action on Wednesday, 14 October, with pickets placed on all second-level schools where ASTI members teach,” it said.

The previous public sector pay deal expired at the end of June. It provided for general pay increases of 9.25% for public sector workers, along with a 1% local bargaining fund.

However, talks have yet to begin on a new agreement.

Public Service Union Fórsa, which represents workers across health, education and the civil service, has said members will work strictly to contract and refuse to undertake additional duties.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has said that workers would only provide duties necessary for “safe patient care” during rostered hours. 

INMO members will not work any additional unpaid hours or attend non-clinical meetings. 

Trade union Siptu members in health and local authorities are also engaging in work-to-rule.