The Department of Education has put a price tag of £210 million on the 30 per cent pay claim by secondary teachers. And it has warned that the full cost could reach £400 million a year if the increase demanded by the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) is also given to primary teachers.
The ASTI is threatening a programme of industrial action which is likely to begin with a series of one-day strikes over the coming months if the Government does not concede its claim. The union has also warned it may be necessary to disrupt next year's Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations if no progress is made.
The cost of the ASTI claim was detailed by Department officials at an arbitration hearing yesterday. The 30 per cent claim is expected to be rejected by the public services arbitrator, who may instead offer teachers the terms of the new pay deal under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF).
This gives teachers a 19 per cent increase over three years - plus the possibility of additional pay through a "bench-marking" process. This could reward teachers for changes in working methods and productivity. Having rejected the PPF, the ASTI is not a party to the bench-marking process. During yesterday's hearing the ASTI representatives, led by the general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, were questioned closely about the cost of their claim and the possible knock-on effect on primary teachers and other public service workers. Since 1970, both primary and second-level teachers have been paid the same common scale but the ASTI claim threatens to break this up.
After hearing the claim, the arbitrator will draw up a report which is expected to be ready by the end of September. The Government plans to pay the first 5.5 per cent pay rise due under the PPF to all teachers when it falls due in October.
The other teaching unions, the Irish National Teachers Organisation and the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), which endorsed the PPF, hope the bench-marking process will deliver further significant pay increases. But the bench-marking review group is not due to issue its findings until 2003. It is understood that the Government is coming under intense pressure from the other teaching unions to shorten this time-scale in order to quell discontent among members.
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, last night indicated that the Government may be ready to bring forward the bench-marking. He told The Irish Times the Government was anxious to move with all possible speed. The Government decision to establish the review body as speedily as it did was an example of this, he said.