At the opening of the INTO congress, union president Mary Magner called on the Government to reverse last weekâs decision.
âWe had a promise from the Government we took in good faith. However, the rug has been pulled out from under us,â she said.
âWe will spend time later in congress on this important matter and I implore the Minister to announce a U-turn in her address later.â
Expert guidance
A spokesman for Minister for Education Norma Foley â who is due to address the INTO on Tuesday afternoon â said it remained her position that the vaccination programme should be guided by public health experts.
Change to vaccine rollout schedule not a value judgment on teachers - Foley
The INTO, ASTI, and TUI have agreed to put forward a shared emergency motion, however, the exact wording will not be available until tomorrow.
The three teaching unions are due to bring a shared, emergency motion to delegates tomorrow, demanding vaccine prioritisation for teachers.
Tue, 06 Apr, 2021 - 15:21
Jess Casey, Shauna Bowers and Nicole Glennon Scroll down for:
ASTI adopts maximum class size of 24 policy
Harris - Funding for higher education ducked and dodged for too long
Motion on future Leaving Cert curriculum reform passed unanimously by ASTI
Teacher unions trying to coordinate potential strike action over vaccine rollout change, says TUI
The conferences of the country’s three teacher trade unions start online today. By Adam Daly Tuesday 6 Apr 2021, 9:45 AM 1 hour ago 12,607 Views 78 Comments
Image: Shutterstock/Vyaseleva Elena
Updated 54 minutes ago
RECENT CHANGES TO the vaccine rollout plan are expected to feature heavily at the conferences of the country’s teachers trade unions starting today.
The decision to implement an age-based model of vaccine sequencing over one that prioritised groups like teachers and gardaí was met with anger from some representative groups last week.
The government says this will mean vaccines can be delivered faster over the next few months. However, the change essentially removes a ‘key workers’ cohort that had pl
Industry and Employment Correspondent
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has warned that the lack of a fully integrated third level sector has fostered inequality, elitism, skills shortages, stress on students and high drop-out rates from higher education.
He has also confirmed that his department is planning to introduce pilot schemes for rapid Covid-19 testing across third level education sites.
Addressing the annual conference of the Teachers Union of Ireland online, Mr Harris said the current third level model had failed to recognise the brilliance of further education and training, which should be a first choice, rather than a fallback option, for students.