Re: Campaign against
Proposed “Public Service Agreement 2010-2014”

Dear Colleague,

As you know, the Executive Committee and TUI Annual Congress in Ennis have both emphatically rejected the proposed “Public Service Agreement 2010 – 2014”.   Congress has decided that a ballot be held amongst the members and that all members be recommended to vote against the proposed agreement.   Congress also instructed the Executive Committee to organise a campaign to this effect.

General Meetings
Meetings will be held in the following 7 areas: Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Athlone, Galway, Sligo and Limerick.   These meetings will take place between Monday, 26th April, and Thursday, 6th May.   Dates, times and venues are set out below.

All members are invited to attend at whichever of the meetings is most convenient at which an explanation of the basic provisions of the agreement will be given along with the reasons for the Executive Committee’s decision to reject the proposals.

The Ballot
Ballot papers will issue from this office on Thursday, 6th May, and will, as always, be sent to all schools on that day.   The ballot will have to be returned to this Union’s auditors by Thursday, 20th May.   This means that ballots being posted will require to be posted no later than Tuesday, 18th May.

Workplace representatives are requested to distribute the ballot papers, as soon as they are received, to all in-benefit members and to seek to ensure that all members vote in accordance with the Executive Committee recommendation and also to ensure that ballots are posted back to the Union auditors or alternatively delivered to the offices of the auditors by the date in question.

Invalid Votes
A major issue has arisen in recent elections relating to votes which have been rendered invalid as a result of a failure of the voter to comply with the regulations.   It is essential that the following three items are written on the back of the envelope.

1. Voter’s signature
2. Print name
3. Branch

The commonest cause of invalid votes is the failure to write the name of the branch.   It is essential that these three items are completed.   The purpose of this is to ensure that votes can be authenticated while at the same time maintaining the secrecy of the ballot.

Promotional Material
Copies of the proposed agreement will be circulated to all members as will written documentation giving explanations of some of the clauses and setting out both the reasons for rejection of the deal and the proposed alternative at this stage.

In addition, posters urging rejection are being prepared and will be issued both in hard copy by post and electronically to all branches and to workplace representatives where email addresses are held in this office.   Representatives are asked to forward these posters as widely as possible to TUI members.   They can also be printed and displayed in workplaces.

Because of the nature of this agreement, it is essential that a very strong mandate is received from members to reject this deal.   I ask for the fullest of cooperation from all in this regard so that this mandate can be achieved.

Yours sincerely,

_____________________________
Peter MacMenamin
General Secretary

Details of meetings re: proposed “Public Service Agreement”

All meetings to run from 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm

Athlone - Radisson Hotel     26th April

Cork - Silver Springs Hotel    27th April

Galway - Radisson Hotel     28th April

Kilkenny - Newpark Hotel     29th April

Sligo - Sligo Park Hotel    4th May

Limerick - Castletroy Park Hotel    5th May

Dublin - Green Isle Hotel    6th May

Members are invited to attend whichever of the above meetings are most convenient.