November 10th: Unite, which represents English Language Teachers throughout Ireland, today (Sunday) announced that pickets will resume tomorrow at Delfin English School while members in IBAT have also voted to take industrial action and will be holding a series of one-hour stoppages starting tomorrow with the potential for escalation if issues in dispute are not resolved.

Teachers at Delfin will be taking strike action from  November 11^th to November 15^th inclusive, and from December 2^nd to December  6^th inclusive.  Teachers at IBAT will be holding one-hour stoppages (morning and afternoon) tomorrow and Friday, as well as on November 18^th, 22^nd, 25^th and 29^th.

Commenting, Unite Regional Officer Brendan Byrne said:

“The international education sector, of which ELT is a large part, is booming, with the government projecting that the value of the sector will grow to over €2 billion by next year.  Committed, experienced and highly-skilled teachers are central to that success, yet they are often low-paid and often employed on precarious contracts.

“Rather than talking collectively to teachers about their concerns through the union of their choice, school management often rely on a culture of intimidation to squeeze pay and conditions while maximising their profits.

“Based on the feedback from our members, Unite believes that unrest in the sector will continue to spread unless and until there is a negotiated collective agreement.  We are hopeful that the Labour Court will recommend such an agreement in the near future”, Mr Byrne said.