The second-level teachers’ union the ASTI says it is bitterly disappointed that the issue of thousands of teachers earning unequal pay has not been addressed despite expectations that proposals would have emerged by now.
“As we enter a new school year – another year in which schools will experience significant difficulties recruiting teachers – we are utterly dismayed by the Government’s lack of urgency in relation to addressing the cause of the problem: unequal pay,” said ASTI President Breda Lynch.
The union President said that as Budget 2019 approaches, the Government must make it clear how it intends to resolve the issue of unequal pay.
“It is unacceptable that thousands of our teachers are expected to endure substantially inferior pay arrangements than their colleagues. As a consequence of pay cuts in 2010 and 2011, these teachers earn on average €4,000 less each year for the duration of their careers. In the initial years of teaching the loss is closer to €6,000 to €7,000 per annum,” said the ASTI President.
Ms Lynch said that at a meeting of ASTI Standing Committee today, union representatives from around the country reported that teachers are united on this issue, whether or not they are personally affected by unequal pay. At their annual conferences in April the three teacher unions – the ASTI, the INTO and the TUI – committed to a campaign of industrial action in the event of a continuing failure by the Government to resolve the issue.
“Today the ASTI Standing Committee reaffirmed its commitment to a joint union campaign, as adopted by union members at the teacher conferences,” said Breda Lynch. “We are extremely concerned that as we welcome our students back, and welcome the thousands of students beginning their second-level education, we are still looking for equal pay for post 2010 teachers. Unless an end is put to this blatant injustice, the ASTI will have no alternative but to ballot on industrial action.”
