ASTI chief says cutting pension levy best way to boost pay

If the take home pay of teachers is to be improved then probably the best way to achieve this is to reduce the public service pension levy, the general secretary of the ASTI Pat King has said.

In an address to his union’s annual convention in Killarney he warned delegates to “beware of promises of income tax cuts”.

He said that taxation was directly linked to the quality of public services and the resources available to fund them.

Mr King said there was “ nothing irresponsible in calling for pay increases for public servants”.

“Remuneration for public servants must be no less attractive than is available in other sectors of the economy; otherwise there will be a further exodus from the public service and we will find it increasingly more difficult to attract good people into teaching, nursing, the Gardaí etc. It’s already happening in teaching.”

Mr King said the pay restoration commitments setout in the the Haddington Road agreement “must be met in full and on time, and let there be no delays as were experienced by teachers who were due increments last December”.

The ASTI leader argued in his speech that some form of social partnership with the Government and others should not be ruled out by trade unions.

He acknowledged that this was a controversial issue. He said the Government had indicated that there would be no return to “old-style social partnership”.

He suggested that some on the right believed social partnership represented trade union interference in the free market while those on the other end of the political spectrum contended that it was to blame for the demise of trade union effectiveness.

“ It is a question of whether we want to influence matters outside of pay e.g. areas such as taxation policy, quality of state services, be it for education or health.

“It is essential that the ASTI is at the negotiating table alongside the other teacher and public service unions when this dialogue is happening. There is no strategically sensible alternative.”

Mr King warned delegates about the on-going talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal and the dangers this could have for education.

"Teacher unions throughout Europe are concerned that as in the US and in the UK, education is becoming more and more a commercial entity, driven by a commercial imperative and dominated by the philosophy of the free market. Education could become the target of commercial interests. I could name at least one US company which dominates the US education market and which is already buying up education trusts in the UK.

"The TTIP would greatly facilitate this type of operation. ASTI is acting along with [other Irish education sector unions] TUI, INTO, IFUT and the British teacher unions to oppose the TTIP treaty or at least to exclude education from its remit.

“Education is not a commercial commodity. It is a citizen’s right.”

Mr King strongly criticised the “casualisation” of the teaching profession with official figures showing that about 35 per cent of teachers working on a fixed term or part-time basis.

However he welcomed a new Department of Education circular for reforms tht would “transform teaching from being blighted by casualisation into a respectful and secure career”.

He forecast that under the terms of the new circular “that within two to three years we will cut that 35 per cent casualisation figure in half and more”.