Just back... and teachers plan strike vote

JUST days after returning to work following the summer break, one of the country’s leading teachers’ unions is already balloting its members for strike action over pay demands.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) vote will run from the middle of next month until early October.

TUI president Séamus Lahart said yesterday: ‘Progress has been made in the campaign to end pay discrimination, but a gap remains. The process must now be completed and this injustice conclusively addressed.’ The 18,000 TUI members will vote for action, up to and including strike, over the pay gap between those employed before and after January 1, 2011.

The union says new entrants to secondlevel teaching are earning 14% less when first appointed, and 10% less in the first ten years, than they would if not for the cuts made during the economic crisis.

‘This two-tier pay regime is a cynical, damaging discrimination, resulting in situations where colleagues are paid at different rates for carrying out the same work,’ Mr Lahart said.

‘It must also be borne in mind that many new entrants to teaching do not secure a contract of full hours upon initial appointment, earning just a fraction of the wholetime salary. In addition, they are commencing their career at an average age of 26.

‘We are not looking for preferential treatment for these teachers, we are simply looking for all teachers to be treated equally.’