The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) wants the next minister for education to make pay equalisation for new teachers a top priority.
The matter will be discussed at the INTO conference which commences in Wexford on Monday. The current Minister, Jan O’Sullivan, will not be in attendance.
Emma Dineen, president of the INTO said it was disappointing that the Minister would not be at the conference, but she was hopeful that whoever will be the next minister “will be listening in”.
“From our perspective we would have hoped that Jan O’ Sullivan would have come along and listened any way,” she told Newstalk.
“We feel that no matter who’s here or not here, we are going to lay out our stall for the future of primary education in this country...We have lobbied all the political parties over recent months in terms of their manifestoes, pre-election and pre Budget so they are very clear on what our needs are.”
Ms Dineen said the INTO would work with “whatever amalgamation of parties” forms a government on the future of primary education in Ireland.
‘Issues’
For the 850 delegates attending the conference, Ms Dineen said “there are always problems, always issues that need to be addressed.
“Equalisation of pay for young or new teachers in particular. They are on a different pay scale to everyone else. It is a pay issue. It has to be highlighted. It has to be prioritised in any new pay deal.”
Ms Dineen said that new teachers start on €31,000. “They are finding it difficult to have a living wage in Dublin or any other urban area. It’s an equality issue. You have teachers working side by side doing the same work and not being paid the same wage.”
She added that there was also a huge issue around the workload for principals. “There are huge areas of administration and co-ordination, all the extra activities. Someone has to co-ordinate them, it doesn’t happen by magic.
“We accepted the Lansdowne Road Agreement at the time. We felt it was the best that we could gain at the time, but we felt they were temporary measures.
“The unwinding of it is slow. Teachers are not going to be happy that it is coming back at such a slow rate. Governments take money from you quickly, but return it slowly.”
