Union chief warns of failure to improve teachers’ pay

THE quality of school education in the future could be put in major jeopardy if teachers’ pay packages are not properly improved, a union leader warned at the weekend.

John White, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said he was responding to recent sustained criticisms of public service workers which suggested they were overpaid and removed from economic reality.

He said this must be seen as a calculated attempt to devalue the work of teachers and others ahead of the Public Service Benchmarking Body beginning its work early next year.