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The elected leadership of the Secondary Teachers Association, Ireland, will meet later today to consider a decision by members to support industrial action through strike action, seeking broader safeguards to protect teachers from the threat of Covid-19 in schools, as well as equal pay.
In the voting results released earlier this week, ASTI members voted in favor of the action on a number of issues.
These included seeking a redefinition of what constitutes close contact in the classroom; 24-hour Covid-19 test response times; serial tests for schools; the provision of free laptops for students and teachers; provision to allow teachers in the high-risk health category to teach from home or make accommodations in school; and equal pay for teachers employed after 2010.
The vote stipulated today as the deadline to address these issues.
The union’s Standing Committee, which is made up of more than 20 teachers elected by the members, will consider the outcome.
In the vote, members were asked if they were willing to take industrial action “as directed by the Standing Committee.”
Members rejected proposals for possible industrial action for several other reasons.
These included a demand for physical distancing of two meters in each classroom; the provision of free, high-quality masks to all students and teachers; and guaranteed offers of permanent full-time contracts to any teacher who returns to the system.
Schools will reopen the Monday after the midterm break.
In a separate vote, which was a repeat of a vote that was in progress when schools suddenly closed in March, ASTI members voted in favor of the strike up to and including the strike for equal pay.
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