The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland urged the Government to take action on pay inequality “sooner rather than later” yesterday (Tue).
Union President Breda Lynch, who addressing the ASTI conference in Wexford, said there had been movement with the nurses, who thrashed out a deal for pay rises and improved terms.
Ms Lynch said that agreement was made “theoretically” within the current Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) pay agreement and she hoped it could be replicated.
She said: “We hope this development with the parties to the PSSA is the pathway forward, and sooner rather than later.
“We have seen that there is room for manoeuvre with the nurses.
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“They have negotiated pay increases and improved terms, theoretically within the PSSA.
“Last October the oversight body finally announced measures for dealing with New Entrant Pay in the public sector.”
She added: “The October 2018 measures failed to address the inequality experienced by teachers.
“As we all know the teaching profession was hardest hit because we needed new teachers, crisis or no crisis.”
Ms Lynch said the Government’s €200m plans to tackle pay inequality by 2026 had been rebuffed by the ASTI and the Irish National Teachers Organisation.
She called for allowances to be reinstated, and a return to the practice that teachers would begin on point 3 of their pay scale instead of the controversially introduced first point which was brought in during the economic downturn.
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She added: “There are other issues that need to be addressed to make teaching attractive again.
"You [Education] Minister [Joe McHugh] have referenced the initiative overload and pace of change as problematic.
"I welcome your comments in the governments’ Action Plan for Education on continuing with reforms in a carefully managed and paced way.
"I like less the language of business that has now permeated the world of education where you talk about being customer-focused. We do not see our students as customers or clients."
