The Government is facing the first real challenge to its public service pay policy following the decision by second level teachers to vote in favour of industrial action.
How the Government handles this issue will have implications not just for students in hundreds of schools, but also for its industrial relations strategy across the wider public service.
The move by members of the ASTI to back industrial action over new entrant pay levels and on penalties imposed on them for “repudiating” the Lansdowne Road public service agreement could lead to the closure of about 500 schools where the union has representation rights.
The two big industrial disputes this year did not directly impact on the Lansdowne Road agreement as Luas is a private sector company (although operating a State contract ) while Dublin Bus is in the commercial State sector.
While the increases that emerged from these disputes - 18 per cent over four years in the case of Luas drivers and 11.25 per cent over three years for Dublin Bus staff - fuelled pay expectations in the broader labour market, they did not threaten the Lansdowne Road accord.
The Government insisted again this week that the Lansdowne Road deal is the only game in town in terms of pay for about 300,000 staff employed in the public service.
The vote by ASTI members as well as planned industrial action by gardaí will severely test its resolve in defending the agreement.
Pay restoration
In this week’s budget the Government allocated €290 million for pay restoration for public service staff promised under the Lansdowne Road deal.
However, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe made clear no-one would be getting any additional money over and above that set out in the accord before its expiry in 2018. He also ruled out any acceleration of the timetable for staff to receive pay restoration.
Under the agreement public service personnel earning less than €65,000 will receive a payment of €1,000 next September.
For those earning above that threshold the deal provides for the phased restoration of the pay cuts imposed in 2013 under the previous Haddington Road agreement to begin next Spring.
The problem for the Government is that the ASTI along with the Garda Representative Association have rejected the Lansdowne Road agreement.
Other teaching unions were able to use the agreement effectively to end the controversial two-tier pay system for their recent entrants.
However, there could be no similar deal for ASTI members as it did not comply with the Government’s insistence that acceptance of the Lansdowne Road deal was a condition of such an arrangement .
The slippery slope towards industrial action began in earnest in the summer when the ASTI said it would no longer co-operate with 33 additional unpaid hours which teachers had been required to work under the previous Croke Park agreement.
The Government’s position has been that while it was prepared to reverse pay cuts, the productivity concessions such as the “Croke Park hours” were permanent.
Penalties
In rejecting these hours, the Government felt the ASTI “repudiated” the Lansdowne Road agreement. This triggered the introduction of penalties for members of the union under financial emergency legislation introduced by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition in autumn 2015.
This saw ASTI members lose out on incremental pay rises due since last July while they also forfeited about €800 due in September as part of the re-introduction of payments for supervision and substitution duties in schools.
ASTI subsequently balloted members on whether they would continue to carry out such roles in absence of the promised payment. If the members cease carrying out supervision and substitution duties, schools will close on health and safety grounds unless other personnel can be secured to do this work.
Once an announcement is made on any date of withdrawal from supervision and substitution duties, school authorities will be in a race against time to recruit suitable replacements and to have them vetted by gardai.
A key issue for the Government will be how much notice the ASTI will give of any withdrawal and whether its members, including school principals, will co-operate with any contingency plans.
Senior education figures believe that with ASTI goodwill, the introduction of contingency arrangements in time to keep school open will be difficult. In the absence of co-operation it will be impossible.
The ASTI leadership has described the Lansdowne Road deal as “just a piece of paper” but for the Government it is the cornerstone of its entire public service pay policy.
All public service groups will be watching closely how the Government responds to ASTI and the gardaí.
The likelihood is that any ground conceded by the Government outside of the terms of Lansdowne Road will lead to all others seeking similar arrangements.
In such a scenario, the unravelling of its pay strategy would be very likely.
