People Before Profit’s Trade Union Department sends a message of solidarity and support to the powerful decision by members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, the ASTI.
The decision to ballot for industrial action during the pandemic and win a successful vote for industrial action demonstrates the power of a thoughtful unionized workforce while setting an example of how vital grassroots trade unionism is the well-being of everyone in the society.
The schools in the north have closed due to the risks of the spread of the coronavirus presents to the whole of Ireland and our underfunded health system. The only successful approach to living with the virus is a zero-Covid approach, which depends on ending transmission in school settings where information about the spread of the virus is suppressed instead of the virus itself.
We echo the sensible call ASTI members have made in the details of their vote. We encourage members of the TUI and INTO to move for ballots in their unions to recognize their power as working people and responsibility toward care for their students. We applaud the ASTI for their leadership and their solidarity with families and communities affected by the mismanagement of the current government of the response to this deadly virus. Well done ASTI.
