Irish teachers want their full pay back
Published:
Irish Teacher Unions call for the abolition of the additional 33 hours per year they have to work as well as the abolition of the public service pension levy put in place in 2009 and which represented the first reduction in earnings of public service staff since the economic crisis started.
They believe the pension levy is unfair as private sector workers are not affected. In 2011 and 2012, the Irish Government also cut the pay of new entrant teachers by 10 % and abolished allowances paid to new teachers with specific qualifications. ETUCE Member organisations representing primary and secondary teachers in Ireland (ASTI, INTO and TUI) are of the opinion that these measures are weakening the teaching profession and public services as a whole by making the profession less attractive for young people. At their conference in Wexford the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) voted to take strike action if pay differentials between long serving employees and recent recruits were not abolished. "Remuneration for public servants must be no less attractive than is available in other sectors of the economy; otherwise, there will be a further exodus from the public service and we will find it increasingly more difficult to attract good people into teaching (...) it's already happening in teaching" said ASTI (Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland) general secretary Pat King at the ASTI Convention in Killarney.
Also in favour of restoring the former common basic scale for all teachers and of reinstating qualification allowances for new teachers, The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) demands the full payment of wage increases agreed under the pre-2011 social partnership deal.
The Irish Government is expected to convene talks on pay with public service unions in May.
Visit our Member organisations' websites for further information: ASTI, TUI, INTO