Longford adult education tutors to protest today over Minister's broken promise

Longford adult education tutors and their supporters are set to protest today (Friday, May 12 at 2pm) outside the Department of Further & Higher Education on St Stephen's Green against what they term a broken promise from Minister Simon Harris in relation to public service contracts.

The Adult Education Tutors Organisation (AETO) say that at the TUI conference on April 11, Minister Harris promised Adult Education Tutors (AETs) that they would see details of a proposed public service contract “in the coming days”.

An AETO spokesperson said, "Four weeks later we’re still waiting."

The spokesperson continued, "It’s more than 3 years since the Labour Court told the government to make us an offer.  Why is this taking so long?  Why has yet another deadline passed with no comment and no apology?

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"The AETO is calling on tutors and their friends, family and supporters to attend the protest today on St Stephen’s Green at 2pm, to demand that Simon Harris finally announces the details of the proposed contract so we can consult our members and decide on our next steps."

Adult Education Tutors will also be presenting a petition calling on Simon Harris to honour the promise he made a month ago.

This is the latest action to be taken by AETs in an ongoing campaign in support of their demands for a public service contract, an incremental salary scale, proper recognition of their years of prior service and pay parity for their post-2011 colleagues.

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The AETO spokesperson said: “We are calling on our members and supporters to attend the protest today to send a message to Simon Harris and to the government, loud and clear, that we are no longer willing to accept the shoddy and disrespectful treatment we’ve endured for so long.

“We were told last July we’d see an offer by the end of September and 4 weeks ago we were promised one ‘in the coming days’.  

“We put Minister Harris and the government on notice that Adult Education Tutors have lost patience.  We are organised and determined to continue, and if necessary escalate, our campaign until our demands are met.  The Adult Education Tutors Organisation, representing tutors from every ETB in the country, will take every opportunity to take action to force Simon Harris and the government into finally doing the right thing.”