Teacher exodus feared over changes to their pensions

THOUSANDS of teachers could be lost to early retirement next year because of threatened changes to public service pension arrangements, a union has warned.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s budget speech outlined that future pension increases may be linked to cost of living rises rather than the current arrangement linking them to increases in public service pay. But changes will not affect those public servants who retire during 2010, he said.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said the move to cost-of-living increases rather than pay parity is designed to reduce the Government’s pension bill because, on average, pay increases have been greater than those in the consumer price index. The unionalso understands that while teachers’ salaries will fall by between 5% and 8% next year, the pension and lump sum entitlements of anyone retiring in 2010 will be based on salary before the pay-cut.