Fórsa trade union has called on the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, to confirm that all existing SNA posts in mainstream schools will be retained and protected from any cuts.
The union says it believes that more than a thousand reviews of SNA staffing numbers have already been conducted by the NCSE, and that the reviews, if implemented, would result in hundreds of job losses.
The union is challenging Government claims that no jobs will be lost because a redeployment scheme will be available.
Forsa Spokesperson Shane Lambert says there are still a lot of unanswered since the pause in the review process was announced last week………
Statement in full –
If ministers don’t have confidence in the SNA reviews, neither can our SNAs – Fórsa
“Asking SNAs to rely on a redeployment scheme that has not been finalised or published is simply not good enough. These cuts must be withdrawn.”
Fórsa trade union has called on the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, to confirm that all existing SNA posts in mainstream schools will be retained and protected from any NCSE cuts.
Fórsa, which represents the vast majority of the 25,000 SNAs employed in Irish schools, made the call today (Monday) ahead of a number of nationwide protests in response to cuts announced before the SNA review process was paused last week.
The union has said it believes that more than a thousand reviews of SNA staffing numbers have already been conducted by the NCSE, and that the reviews, if implemented, would result in hundreds of job losses.
The union challenged claims by Government ministers that no jobs will be lost because a redeployment scheme will be available. The union said that redeployment arrangements, which have yet to be published, contain very short timescales for ensuring SNAs, at risk of redundancy, can access an alternative post. Fórsa said that if the redeployment process got underway in May or June – as has been suggested – that this would be far too late in the year for many SNAs to secure an alternative post.
Fórsa’s head of Education, Andy Pike, said the NCSE has abolished hundreds of SNA jobs in addition to SNA hours of work: “In some instances a full-time, five-day SNA post is to be reduced to just one day per week.
“This runs contrary to agreements, between Fórsa and the Department of Education, that all SNA posts would be set between a minimum of 0.5 and 1.0 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts.
“It is impossible for an SNA to make ends meet if their hours are reduced from five days to one day per week. To compound the injustice of the NCSE’s actions, SNAs affected by cuts in their working hours will not be able to access redeployment. This is because the proposed scheme will only be open to SNAs where the entire post is abolished.
“Reducing hours therefore leaves SNAs facing redundancy without access to redeployment,” he said.
Mr Pike said the NCSE and the Department of Education are, in effect, proposing to make hundreds of SNAs redundant: “There is currently no redeployment scheme in place. Even if the scheme is made available, the timescales and deadlines for matching SNAs at risk of redundancy with available jobs cannot be met.
“Fórsa believes that this exercise should now be treated as a collective redundancy situation, and the union will now be taking the necessary steps to ensure that the employment rights of all SNA members are fully protected.
“The pause announced by the Government last week is intended to allow them to check each SNA review carried out by the NCSE.
“It’s clear to us that the Government does not have confidence in the review process. If the minister does not trust the NCSE, how can they expect SNAs to trust this process?
“The policy of abolishing SNA posts in mainstream classes does not need to be paused. It needs to be cancelled.
“Any attempt to impose hundreds of collective redundancies on SNAs will be strongly resisted. We will insist that the statutory rights to a full 3day consultation period are respected, and that each SNA who is to be made redundant is entitled to be given full reasons for the decision to dismiss them by way of redundancy. They also must be given the right to appeal against the decision.
“This also needs to apply to those SNAs facing NCSE-sanctioned cuts to their hours of work. It is time this uncertainty was ended, and the job cuts cancelled.
“The Government should disclose the full picture, we need to know how many reviews took place and exactly how many jobs are at risk and why. Asking SNAs to rely on a redeployment scheme that has not been finalised or published is simply not good enough. These cuts must be withdrawn,” he said.
