Teachers threaten to take action over pay
TUI wants two-tier wages equalised by September
‘We are prepared to take action’
PUPILS could be disrupted by school closures once again this autumn if equal pay for teachers is not achieved by September.
At a meeting of its annual conference in Cork yesterday, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland issued a warning to Minister for Education Richard Bruton that if pay parity was not achieved for members hired post-2011 during talks this summer, it would ballot its 16,000 members on taking industrial action.
A two-tier pay structure is currently in place – putting teachers hired after 2011 on a lower pay scale to their colleagues. The issue of equal pay for equal work has dominated debate at the three union conferences taking place this week.
Delegates at the TUI, which represents post-primary teachers, passed a motion mandating the union to ballot for industrial action next October if the pay gap is not abolished by September. Part of the motion read: ‘Congress instructs the executive to ballot for industrial action in October 2017, if these discriminatory rates are still in place in September 2017.’
Minister Bruton told the conference the pay gap had been closed by 75% for TUI and Irish National members Lansdowne Teachers’who Road signed OrganisationAgreement. the The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland rejected the agreement and its members have not enjoyed the partial restoration as a result. ASTI members hired in 2012 or after, are €220 a month worse off than their TUI and INTO peers.
They are due a permanent contract after four years of service, compared with two years under Lansdowne Road.
Speaking after the conference, the minister said: ‘Both the INTO and the TUI accepted the proposals we put forward. They’re very worthwhile proposals like for a newly qualified teacher they mean the starting pay from the start of January next year will be over €35,000 – €35,600. ‘That’s a good pay for a young teacher… a young person coming out of college.’ The minister said: ‘Pay equality is fine in the abstract but for me, as a minister, I have to make sure I am fair and equal to all those who have a legitimate demand on my spending resource.’
When asked if threatening industrial action made students pawns in the dispute, TUI president Joanne Irwin replied that it did not. ‘We’re not using pupils as pawns at all, quite the contrary, we want to ensure that our pupils are taught by teachers who are qualified in the subject areas, teachers who are treated the same as their colleagues.
‘In our classrooms, we teach students about equality yet we’re not being treated that way so I think we’re not using them as pawns, we’re showing them, stand up for your rights.’ Asked if the threat of industrial action made him nervous, the minister replied: ‘It doesn’t. In any public service situation you will have at times where there’s pressure on issues of industrial relations, we’ve seen it in other sectors. Clearly those have to be managed.’ Addressing the conference, Ms Irwin said the TUI remained ‘battle-ready’. ‘We will talk but we are, at any point, prepared to take action if talking doesn’t work,’ she said. Meanwhile, at the ASTI conference in Killarney, Co. Kerry, yesterday, public session was suspended amid tense debate over its rejection of the Lansdowne Road Agreement. The talks went into private session, excluding members of the media.