Literacy tutors stage national protest over pay and working conditions

Cork ETB tutors Cecile McCann, Eileen O'Flaherty (Kerry ETB), Margie Fennelly, Elizabeth O'Brien, Clare Hatcher, and Anne Donnelly protest at the head office of Cork Education and Training Board on Lavitt's Quay, Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Adult literacy tutors have staged a national protest outside the offices of Education and Training Boards (ETBs) to highlight delays to a proposal to improve their pay and working conditions.

About 70 tutors picketed offices in Cork, Dublin, Drogheda, Clonmel, Mullingar and Wexford on Friday to highlight conditions which see them paid at an hourly rate, meaning many need to claim social welfare outside term times.

The Irish Examiner spoke to a group of adult literacy tutors who have all worked for between 20 and 25 years in adult literacy, who have to sign on the dole several times a year, who have no pay scale, and are employed under contracts of indefinite duration.

Literacy tutors are paid €40.57 an hour, but this is for “contact hours” only, which are hours of teaching. Literacy tutors are also expected to prepare class materials, mark assignments and prepare QQI (Quality and Qualifications) documents.

Tutors report working three to four unpaid hours for every hour of class time for which they are paid. Their work is considered part-time and is capped at a maximum of 20 contact hours a week.

“We are losing fantastic tutors because they can’t ever hope to do something like apply for a mortgage,” spokeswoman Clare Hatcher said, speaking at the protest outside the Cork Education and Training Board.

We work with some of the most vulnerable people in society, who have already been let down by the system, and they deserve better and so do we.” 

In March 2020, the Labour Court told the Department of Education to make an offer to the country’s estimated 3,300 adult literacy tutors, who were represented by the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and Siptu. Since then, the issue has become part of the brief of Simon Harris’ Department of Further and Higher Education.

Speaking at the annual TUI Congress in Cork City earlier in April, Mr Harris said an offer for tutors was being prepared and would be sent to union representatives “soon”. 

A delay of three years since the Labour Court recommendation was “unacceptable,” Ms Hatcher said.

A statement issued on behalf of CETB said that it “acknowledges the issues and concerns with regards to tutors’ rates of pay.” 

“ETBs, including Cork ETB, are obliged to operate in accordance with the arrangements and structures set out by the department. These arrangements include the rates of pay, holiday pay, illness cover, etc, and a revised model that recognises these and provides a more sustainable and professional framework for tutors would be welcomed by the sector.” 

A spokesperson for the Department of Further and Higher Education said a formal offer to establish a grade of adult education tutor, with a standardised pay scale, has been forwarded to the TUI and here would be a meeting “shortly” to discuss the details.

However, a TUI spokesperson told the Irish Examiner that while “some detail on the offer” had been received, “there is a lack of clarity as to its implementation, application and meaning”. 

The union said it had sought a meeting with the department to outline the issues and seek clarification.