Further strike action is not ruled by the TUI
The strike action of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) last Tuesday was an illustration of how serious the organisation takes the victimization of younger people within the Union.
That was the opinion of local branch representative David Roberts after approximately 150 staff picketed outside of IT Sligo throughout the day last Tuesday.
The Union represents a total of 19,000 members in second level schools, colleges of further and adult education, Institutes of Technology and Technological Universities.
Members voted overwhelmingly – by 92pc to 8pc – to take industrial action in opposition to the continued pay disparity between teachers employed since before January 2011 and those who have come into employment after that date.
The Union says that this anomaly – which was part of austerity measures agreed at the time in the midst of a financial crisis – sees those employed after the January 2011 cut-off earn up to €110,000 less than other colleagues over the course of their career.
“It’s a cause of great concern to members,” Dave Roberts, the chair of the local TUI branch said.
“It has [pay anomaly] been rescinded for older employees, but not younger colleagues.”
“They are on a lesser payscale. We took the pain for the country – not as much as self-employed people at the time – but now other staff need to have pay parity. This is an anomaly from austerity.”
Staff at IT Sligo picketed at all four entrances to the college and stayed in position throughout the day last Tuesday.
“We had a very good turnout of members,” Mr Roberts said.
“We had pickets on the gates from eight in the morning until seven in the evening with regular refreshments for members and different groups coming in.”
As for strike action into the future, Mr Roberts said it could be a possibility.
“Unions do what unions do,” he stressed. “Pressure may be accelerated. The TUI is a relatively conservative union and is very responsible to education. This wasn’t very disruptive – it wasn’t of severe disruption to students – but we could do it at a more disruptive time. But no one wants to do that. We will await responses over the next few days.”
Speaking last Tuesday, the President of the TUI Seamus Lahart said: “Regrettably, the commitment made by Minister McHugh last April that the issue of pay inequality would finally be addressed has not been honoured. The approach of the Minister and his government since then has been to completely ignore the issue in the hope that it would somehow disappear.
“As our overwhelming mandate for industrial action shows, this short-sighted approach has only served to strengthen the resolve of our members. We are making it clear today [ Tuesday] that our campaign will continue until pay discrimination has been eliminated.”