Primary teachers set deadline for end of two-tier pay system

Primary school teachers have set the Government a deadline of the end of the current school year to deal with the two-tier pay system.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said on Friday it wanted a process to deal with the issue in place by the spring.

The two-tier pay systems date back to measures put in place to tackle the collapse of the public finances a decade ago. The then government reduced pay rates for new entrants across the public service by 10 per cent while allowances were also scrapped. The move particularly affected teachers as they continued to be employed in the public service while a recruitment moratorium was in place almost everywhere else.

Second level teachers, who are represented by the Teacher' Union of Ireland (TUI), are already planning to stage a one -day strike in February in protest at the two-tier arranagement. The date for this stoppage has not been announced.

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In a statement after a meeting of its executive on Friday, the INTO said pay equality was a cornerstone of a civilised state.

‘Future losses’

“In 2011 and 2012 Ireland failed spectacularly on that front. Despite years of negotiation, teachers who entered the profession between 2011 and 2014 remain unfairly paid and still face future losses to career earnings,” it said.

The INTO said delegates at its annual conference last April accepted in good faith a statement from Government offering a new pathway towards a resolution of the pay issue.

“For eight long months we have sought an agreement on that pathway. While we remain optimistic that this can still be secured, it would be a disservice to our colleagues if we allowed this inequality to continue.”

The INTO said it “must be provided with the opportunity to process our grievances in the spring so that our long-standing equality claims are settled before the end of this school year”.

The Government confirmed last month it was in talks with unions about the potential of local bargaining arrangements to address particular issues in different parts of the public service. These arrangements would then form part of a new overall public sector pay deal. No final agreement has yet been reached on this issue,although further talks may take place with unions before Christmas.