Teachers could lose €800 if unions fail to back pact

Second-level teachers could lose out on pay increases of nearly €800 next year if their unions fail to support the new Lansdowne Road agreement.

Highly placed sources said last night that the Department of Education and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform were considering holding back restoration of payments for supervision and substitution duties if members of the TUI or ASTI rejected the deal and if their unions failed to support the majority decision of other public service groups to back the agreement.

The withholding of these payments for second-level teachers would, in effect, lead to the break-up of the traditional common pay scale that applied to teachers at primary and secondary levels. Primary school teachers have accepted the Lansdowne Road accord and are in line to have their supervision and substitution payments restored from next year.

Any decision to withhold the payments would be a matter for the next government.

Under the previous Haddington Road agreement, payment for supervision and substitution duties was eliminated but this allowance was to be re-incorporated into the pay of teachers in two tranches, starting with a payment of €796 next autumn. A similar payment is to be made in the school year 2017-2018.

Ballots

The public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) on Wednesday formally approved the Lansdowne Road agreement, which will see most public servants receive increases of €2,000 by the end of 2017, following ballots of affiliated unions.

The ASTI and TUI will not complete their ballots until next month.

The TUI has said that if its members rejected the deal, it would not be bound by the majority decision of the public service committee on the issue.

The ASTI has not made a decision on whether it would be bound by the Ictu vote if its members oppose the accord.

Sources said if unions refused to be bound to implement the Lansdowne Road or Haddington Road deals, management was unlikely to be bound by commitments such as to restore payments for supervision and substitution.

Ballot papers for the Lansdowne Road deal will be issued next week, with a result due around October 9th.