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SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS held a demonstration outside the Dail today as part of the long-running dispute over pay restoration, the amount that newly-qualified teachers are paid, and other issues.
Teachers at today’s demonstration told TheJournal.ie that they’re hoping promises made to them as part of the Haddington Road Agreement will be kept – despite emergency ‘draconian’ legislation which was brought in during the recession being renewed at midnight last night.
Noelle Moran, an accounting and Irish teacher at St Jarlath’s College, Tuam, who attended today’s protest, said that this wasn’t just about money, but about a number of issues surrounding the Landsdowne Road agreement, which was rejected by the ASTI.
At the centre of the dispute is the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest, or FEMPI legislation, which was brought in during the recession, and involves pay cuts, increment freezes, and the loss of allowances and longer working hours, for teachers.
“The FEMPI legislation is supposed to be reviewed every year, and was scheduled to be debated in the Dáil this week. But that didn’t actually happen and it was reenacted without an actual Dáil vote,” says Moran.
Since FEMPI came into play this morning, we decided that today was the day to make it known that we’re not very happy.
Moran said that teachers have been warned that they will not be paid for time spent supervising or substituting, a payment that teachers agreed to relinquish as part of the Haddington Road Agreement of 2013.
“We thought that from June 2016 onwards we would get extra payment for these extra hours as compensation. We weren’t told that it depended on us signing the Lansdowne Road Agreement. And that excludes all the extra curricular activity and time spent correcting exams that teachers have to do,” she told TheJournal.ie.
Entry-level teachers’ pay is also a central issue, with teachers looking for security for those entering the sector, which was also forfeited back in 2013.
The promises they made as part of that agreement have been reneged upon.”
In reaction to the legislation, Cork North Central TD Mick Barry has warned the government that they should back off from their threats to punish workers.
The Sinn Fein TD also said that there is widespread public disgust at the two-tier pay scale which this legislation copperfastens for young teachers.
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If you had switched on the location services you could find that brick in a jiffy. Then again I suppose anyone could track the phone location, hack into it, turn on the camera, record everything. Follow you on Facebook, take your credit card details and all your stored passwords and PIN’s. There’s a lot to be said for the brick.
*cough* HTC
That’s the exact same reason I won’t buy a laptop. I remember the old typewriters, weighed as much as a small car, and you had to practically JUMP on the keys to get them to work…
Was playing with a typewriter over weekend – what a lovely feeling! The sound must have driven the clerks demented though!
In saying that, it would lull you into a nice snooze. Or is that just me on a Monday morning?!
I’d say you’d have super-powerful fingers after a few week using one!
*sigh*
I really enjoy Nick’s columns, but why do I get the uncomfortable feeling that we’re now descending into ‘click-bait’ territory? Please don’t let this thread be another litany of ‘my one is better than yours’…
Wait for it…….fanboys are lining up.
Nick, who gives a curse. I spent 2k punts plus Vat on one of those. They were great for someone on the move but I can understand that their use in a prison was limited
I remember seeing one of those bricks, late 80′s I think. It was the size of a small car but boy did it look cool. Can technology keep going at such a rampant pace into the future? It’s actually quite scary to imagine what tech will be in our homes in 25 yrs from now.
Never mind your home, what will be in your body in 25 years.
Why does the journal give this guy so much time?
I think he writes good articles!
I think he writes good articles!!
Nick writes very good articles, and most importantly, they’re entertaining, the views speak for themselves
As an ex con he has to be extended the olive branch that all other minority groups receive on this website. Never forget how many lives this man ruined.
Good man Tom. Olive branch, lives ruined, so much irony in one statment.
We’re lucky to have a commentator who knows the business inside and out.
I’ll agree this article is a bit below par though.
Nope, he writes whimsical sentimental claptrap.
Dead right. its bloody huge so is Galaxy S3, light and flimsy looking. Galaxy Note is worse. I have a Sony Ericsson, it a perfect size and does the exact same thing as the Top High Range Smartphones.. ?660 for new IPhone 5 on pay as you go. I can buy a new laptop and a new midrange android smartphone for the same price. Ridiculous!!!
Not sure I understand the point of this article. Apart from reviling us with tales of Nicks halcyon days and his distain for new technology? The ‘I used to ‘ave a brick phone’ story is an old one, as is the tired theme of ‘I’m out of touch, with technology and I love telling everyone about it’. I’m not sure how any of this qualifies nick to discuss the release of the iPhone 5? I’m not a fanboy and find apples constant incremental releases kind of boring.. But if your going to discuss something like privacy and the mobile phones affect on it try picking a tech journalist to write it??? I’m kind of surprised at the journals choice of coverage on this, article reads like a Kevin Meyers asshat moment.
Can someone please explain to me what a “Kevin Meyers asshat moment” looks like?.
A thinly veiled advertisement for the latest iphone. And possibly for the building suppliers too :)
So somebody has gotten old and doesn’t embrace technology shocker!
So what, I am sure people thought mobile phone back in the day was not needed. It was really cumbersome, you had to carry a spare battery too.
Modern smart phone is light weight and versatile. Happy to have one and as a business expense it is cheaper to me.
I need to use one now.
Nick, how about putting your genius to writing about the virtues of a fountain pen…. I’ll help!
Eee still don’t really know why are you not buying that phone even after reading this article. Is it because of money you will spend on it? Or because there is no point because soon enough there will be a new one? Or because you will be too easy to reach? Or from a totally different reason that you have not wrote about?
Just asking.
People who keep upgrading (whatever that may be phone,pc,laptop,tv cars etc) really dont care about the environment at the end of the day. Because there old one gets thrown in the dump.. Bigger and bigger dumps across the world. In a resourced based economy items would be built to last not to make a yearly profit margin.
Time for change and the change is coming. Zeitgeist.com
Hey Nick you can’t afford one you owe to much money…
have your say