The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has said a new deal proposed for public pay locks in “pay discrimination".
The second-level teachers' union is set to oppose the agreement, which it says would leave new teachers earning 15 per cent less than their colleagues did when they were hired.
The €906 million deal would increase pay levels by two per cent overall.
However, TUI president Martin Marjoram said a pay gap imposed for teachers employed in 2011 or later will still give new entrants career losses.
“This certainly closes a gap for second-level teachers, there are career losses of about 100,000 [euro] compared with where they should be, if these cuts hadn’t continued,” he said.
It still leaves a big gap behind
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“This closes that gap by about €20,000. It still leaves a big gap behind, and we also represent other recruitment grades in the public service who are not helped by this and who do face pay discrimination as well.”
The Irish Times reports the TUI executive unanimously recommended that members should reject the public service agreement proposals in a forthcoming ballot.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the executive of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) unanimously criticised the process that led to the proposed agreement.
It said it was not part of the group that negotiated the new proposals and that promises there would be parity of esteem between groups affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and those outside the body in the Government negotiations had not been adhered to.
The AGSI did not comment on the content of the deal.
Backing
The proposed deal would see public service staff receive several pay increases, with a one per cent pay increase in October 2021 and the equivalent of a further one per cent award in February 2022 based on sectoral bargaining.
This would be followed by a further one per cent rise for all 340,000 State employees in October 2022.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Cabinet formally approved the deal while two of the larger public service unions also backed the proposed agreement.
The executive committees of the primary teachers’ union, the INTO, and the largest public service union, Fórsa, said they would urge members to support the proposals in forthcoming ballots.
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said the agreement provided for “affordable pay adjustments weighted toward those on lower incomes”.
The overall decision on whether to ratify the proposed deal will be based on a weighted aggregate of the outcomes of the ballots of individual affiliate unions.
