Teachers for tribunal?

Press, 28 February 1986, Page 4

Teachers for tribunal?

*

The last time it approached the tribunal on Wednesday, it was told the earliest the case could be heard was in April.

As he had not made the approach himself, Mr Allen said he did not know if the tribunal had been told the matter was urgent. He did not know if the P.P.T.A. representative had asked for a special hearing to be arranged. Judge Williamson said special sittings, which did not push aside other unions waiting to have their cases heard before the tribunal, had been arranged in the past. “It always arranges sittings, and it tries to meet the needs or the wishes of the parties as far as is humanly possible,” he said.

Arbitration was still not an option [the - P.P.T.A. preferred, Mr Allen said, but it was now obvious the

Government was "digging itself in.” ' The association had not considered arbitration as a strong possibility before, he said, because the Government position had been changing, even at the beginning of this week. “The information we had was that the Government was shifting position, and we are working

hard behind the scenes to put pressure on it to change its views.” The P.P.T.A. executive will meet today, tomorrow, and on Sunday. Earlier in the week, Mr Allen said that plans for industrial action would be announced after the meeting on Sunday. At meetings on Tuesday, teachers voted to support a campaign of rolling stoppages.