The Teachers' Union of Ireland is to seek a review of teachers' salaries and allowances. The executive of the union, which includes more than 10,000 teachers and lecturers, decided yesterday to demand a pay increase which would "provide them with an opportunity to share in the benefits of current prosperity".
In a statement, the TUI said that the salary review would have to "redress the disparities which have arisen between teachers' pay and the pay of others within and without the public sector".
The union said that its comments applied especially to "those who have succeeded in making special remuneration arrangements which allowed them to benefit to a greater extent than teachers from the current economic prosperity".
Its general secretary, Mr Jim Dorney, said that teachers had "unfinished business on pay to conclude with the Government under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work". They would be seeking a "thorough assessment of their pay situation, whether this be within or without a national agreement".
Mr Dorney told the special conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Thursday that teachers had settled for 5 or 6 per cent while others, "through more vigorous action", had got substantially more. He said that the TUI would not support a successor to Partnership 2000 if this gap was not bridged.