Northern Ireland

Teachers to consider strike action after changes to vaccine programme

Classroom staff had been due to receive vaccines as essential workers
Classroom staff had been due to receive vaccines as essential workers Classroom staff had been due to receive vaccines as essential workers

TEACHERS are to be asked to consider taking strike action over changes to the Republic's Covid-19 vaccine programme.

Both the Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) and Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) are preparing emergency motions for debate at their annual conferences today.

It has been reported that the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) is doing the same.

Classroom staff had been due to receive vaccines as essential workers but government agreed to change the programme priority list to an age-based model.

Minister for Education Norma Foley is due to address the INTO annual congress on Tuesday followed by the TUI on Wednesday. She has not been invited to the ASTI conference.

A spokesman said it remained the minister's position that the vaccination programme should be guided by public health experts.

The decision to revise the approach had been done on this basis, he said.

The ASTI said its members were angry and said teachers had been left "totally discarded".

Union president Ann Piggott said the decision should be reversed.

"I'm not sure what the motion will actually entail or whether members will choose to pass it, but we're not going to pass a motion that will sort of mean we're going to express our sadness at what has happened and move on," she said.

"Something bad has happened, teachers are annoyed. This decision has to be rescinded or changed in some way and we need to see action."

TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie said vaccinating teachers would ensure that schools could stay open.

He added that members were upset, frustrated and annoyed.

"If you can vaccinate teachers, then you can protect the sustainable reopening of schools," Mr Gillespie said.

"The government have stated continuously that one of the things it wants to open up fully is schools. Well, if it wants to keep schools open, you vaccinate them."

The INTO said there had been zero consultation or notification of the "drastic change".

General Secretary John Boyle said: "For months now we have heard the government say, time after time, that education is the top priority for government. How then can teachers be treated with such blatant disregard as frontline education workers?

"This move undermines the efforts of our education staff to keep our primary and special schools open safely. This is unacceptable and the government must prioritise the safety of teachers and all key workers once the vulnerable and elderly are first protected by vaccination."