UNION officials representing Department of Education officials in dispute over staff shortages have warned that if they vote to ban overtime, this summer's Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams could be seriously affected.
The Public Service Executive Union, which represents officials in the Department's examinations branch in Athlone, will hold a ballot in the next week to decide whether to escalate a two-month work-to-rule.
If the escalation takes the form of an overtime ban, it could affect preparations for this year's public exams. A large part of the work of the Department on examinations is carried out as overtime, including sending out exam papers and answer books and appointing invigilators.
Since late January PSEU members have refused to take on any new work or cover for absent colleagues. The taskwork assessments of more than 3,000 Applied Leaving Certificate students have been postponed as a result.
Last week, after representations from parents, students and teacher bodies, the PSEU announced its members had agreed to "ring-fence" their action so as to unblock those taskwork assessments. This followed an agreement by the Department to reassign some staff and take on a small number of temporary staff.
But the PSEU said the Department had still done nothing to address the fundamental problem, the continuing "chronic staff shortage" at Athlone. Its assistant general secretary, Mr Billy Hannigan, said last night the union believed "a significant increase in staff is needed to cope with the huge increase in the workload on our members".