Two-tier pay scale for teachers is legal, EU court declares

‘We haven’t hit a brick wall yet’

THE two-tier pay scale for teachers in Ireland is not discriminatory, the European Court of Justice has ruled. However, the Irish National Teachers Organisation have warned that they will consider taking industrial action following the ‘bitter disappointment’ of the court’s decision.

The INTO previously supported a case taken by two of its members, Claire Keegan and Thomas Horgan, who were both qualified after January 2011, when a postcrash lower pay scale came into effect for teachers and other civil servants.

The INTO argued that as 70% of primary teaching entrants in 2011 were 25 years of age or younger, the lower pay scale affected mainly young teachers.

After initially being brought to the Labour Court, the case was later referred to the European Court of Justice.

It has now ruled against the teachers, stating that the difference in treatment is a result of the date of recruitment, as opposed to age. The ruling stated: ‘The only relevant criterion for the purposes of applying the new rules on the salary scale and classification on that scale is whether the person concerned is a “new entrant to the public service as of 1 January 2011”, regardless of the age of the public servant at the date at which he or she was recruited.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Seán O’Rourke, the INTO deputy general secretary Noel Ward was critical of the fact there was no oral hearing for the case. ‘We were very disappointed and quite frustrated by the narrowness of the court decision,’ he said.

‘We always felt a bit downcast by the fact that we didn’t get that oral hearing but none- theless we came here in hope, we feel disappointed but not one bit less determined to deal with this.’

Meanwhile, INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said they were ‘not deterred’ and ‘still determined’ to achieve pay restoration, and would not rule out industrial action.

‘I think that [industrial action] is always in the armoury of a trade union. That is something we would have to consider if we feel that we have completely come up against a brick wall.

‘We haven’t come up against that brick wall yet but certainly our executive don’t rule anything in or anything out because this has been the number one and outstanding issue for the INTO for the last decade.’

A spokesman for the Department of Education told the Irish Daily Mail last night that it will examine the implications of the judgment in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

‘The Government has made substantial progress in addressing the new entrant pay issue using the public service pay agreements, the latest being the agreement reached in September between the Government and ICTU,’ it said.

‘This agreement will benefit 16,000 teachers and nearly 5,000 SNAs within the education sector.’

Sources close to the INTO told the Irish Daily Mail earlier this week that it has ‘unfinished business’ with the Government in terms of pay, and are keeping an eye on developments around the nurses’ proposed pay deal.

Comment – Page 14 lisa.o’donnell@dailymail.ie