So, here’s a little detail that seems to have slipped off the agenda of the Minister for Education in the Assembly yesterday… Maggie Taggart reports…
One hundred and twenty school staff, including teachers, who thought they were getting redundancy deals have now been told they must stay on next term.
Schools had applied for a total of 167 redundancies.
However, the only ones approved by the department are those in schools that are closing or amalgamating.
Even 28 redundancies which met all four criteria set by the department have been refused.
The Ulster Teachers Union said it was ridiculous to make the decision so late, while the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) said it was disgraceful after months of uncertainty.
Gerry Murphy, of INTO, said: “By leaving the decision to effectively the last week of term, they have created confusion and uncertainty through the entire system.
There’s a very telling remark from one teacher in Coleraine who notes…
“I just can’t understand how they have got their facts and figures so wrong. Why at this stage have they decided they’re not paying out.
Quite. According the report, Jim Allister is going to lodge a late question on this tomorrow.
As for the Department, it would only cryptically point to “the difficult financial environment the executive is facing”.
The Executive eh? That would not be anything to do with the fines the Executive is now paying out for its failure to agree welfare reforms?
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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