Teachers Union of Ireland will ‘strongly’ advise its members to reject the new public payment arrangement

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has recommended to its nearly 20,000 members not to accept the new public service agreement proposed by the Government.

This is the first public service agreement to offer pay increases in more than ten years.

The Minister of Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, published the details of the draft agreement this afternoon. The proposed deal will cost 906 million euros over three budget years.

TUI said that when its 21-member executive decided they would be “strongly advocating” for its members to reject the proposals, it recognized the severe financial hardships that the pandemic caused so many workers.

However, ten years after the imposition of pay cuts for “new entrants,” the Union could not recommend acceptance of proposals that would continue to cause our colleagues to pay lower wage rates for doing identical work.

The union said there is a “hiring and retention crisis” among high school teachers due to this pay gap.

A survey of more than 130 high schools earlier this year shows that in the past 12 months, 77% of these schools had advertised positions for which no one applied.

TUI President Martin Mejorana said:

Unfortunately, the limited measures contained in this proposed agreement will not end the ongoing scandal of pay discrimination for second-level teachers employed as of January 1, 2011 and the proposed agreement does not address it at all for the other grades of recruitment. in which TUI represents the members. .

“Even with this proposed settlement, the greatest pay discrimination would still occur in the first few years of employment. New entrants to second-level teaching would still earn € 6,500, or 15%, less at the time of appointment than someone who entered the profession before 2011.

“The loss of professional income would continue to be more than 80,000 euros,” he said.

More than 19,000 TUI members will be voted on the proposals in the New Year.

‘Affordable salary adjustments’

The cabinet today approved the draft of the public payment agreement. Minister McGrath noted that the terms of the proposed public payment agreement were the result of “a difficult and complex negotiation process” with Department officials, the Commission on Workplace Relations and the unions.

This Agreement recognizes this contribution and establishes weighted affordable salary adjustments towards those with the lowest incomes.

“Significantly, from the perspective of the Treasury, these salary adjustments are staggered and implementation begins later in 2021.”

The Minister concluded: “As public servants become involved in voting in the coming weeks on the acceptance of these proposals, I hope they will consider all of these elements, which offer security and reward for their continued commitment to serving our citizens.”

The public service agreement is called ‘Building Momentum: A New Public Service Agreement 2021-2022’.