Post-primary salary can fall to €6,000, says TUI

A significant number of post-primary teachers are now earning as little as €6,000 to €12,000 a year so drastic has the cut in their hours been, said senior Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) officials yesterday.

Speaking before he addressed the annual conference of the Principals’ and Deputy Principals’ Association in Sligo, TUI general secretary John MacGabhann said incomes were being slashed as teachers all over the country experience a dramatic cut in the number of hours they get each week.

“People do not choose teaching as a profession because they want to get rich but they would prefer not to be poor,” said Mr MacGabhann.

He said getting a mortgage and paying rent was increasingly a struggle for teachers who, contrary to the image of having a comfortable well-paid job, were experiencing income poverty. He said post-primary schools in every county had teachers on these tiny incomes.

The TUI boss said that 30 per cent of post-primary teachers and third-level lecturers represented by the union were part-time.