‘We will not stand idly by’ if pay is cut

The education system cannot be funded by getting teachers to pay for it by cutting their pay and eroding working conditions, Teachers’ Union of Ireland president Bernie Ruane said.

She said teachers and lecturers have had their salaries decimated and conditions were being whittled away.

“Soon we will not attract our best and brightest into the teaching and lecturing profession. It is time now to stop the erosion of our pay and working conditions. Enough is enough.”

The union’s executive decided in February that it would ballot members for industrial action if the Government cut pay, including allowances which Ms Ruane said were now under the scrutiny of the Department of Public Expenditure.

“If our pay is touched again, we will not stand idly by. If the Government wants to be in breach of the Croke Park agreement by attacking our pay which has already taken a 20% reduction, then they need to realise that it is they who will have kickstarted a period of industrial unrest,” she said.

The sentiment was shared by many delegates, including Alan Thompson of TUI’s Co Donegal branch who proposed a successful motion reaffirming that a breach of the deal would see all elements nullified.

“We don’t get preferential shares, gym memberships, company cars, or healthcare plans, and all the likes. Any attack on our allowances and the Croke Park deal falls,” he said.

The Department of Education has stopped paying qualifications allowances for some teachers who undertake additional courses, and many of them expressed anger at the situation.

Clare delegate Katie Hehir said she had paid €6,500 in the past two years for a course she will not now have recognised in her pay.

“It’s a big worry for me and colleagues studying for masters degrees and PhDs who are furthering our skills as transformational teachers.

“We have spent many years, a lot of time and personal finances to enhance our skills as leaders of education.”

Ms Ruane questioned why the Government continued to spend increasingly scarce resources on private fee-paying schools that were bastions of privilege while the underprivileged were under constant attack.

“How can any government justify that spend of €100m per year on private fee-paying schools while depriving our public schools of proper resources in guidance, in special education needs, in language supports and in Leaving Certificate Applied?”

She said the union only wanted the Government to “stop paying for those schools which are set up solely to bolster privilege”.