National teachers will take industrial action if the Government does not honour commitments to pass on special pay increases to retired teachers. The warning by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, was made yesterday at the start of a union campaign on the issue.
There has been growing public sector discontent over delays in implementing Government commitments to pass on the benefits to pensioners from restructuring deals under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. Senator O'Toole is the first public sector union leader to give an unequivocal commitment to industrial action if the matter is not resolved soon.
The INTO campaign will include a rally outside Leinster House on November 11th. Retired nurses held a similar rally on October 1st and a cross-union group, the Public Service Pensions Action Group, is holding a rally at Leinster House on November 5th, when a Labour Party motion on the issue is to be debated in the Dail.
While restructuring agreements under the PCW were supposed to have a 3 per cent ceiling, some were worth up to 15 per cent for public service workers at the top of scales and with long service. Most pensioners would have retired from posts where their successors would have received large increases.
Announcing the INTO's programme of action, Senator O'Toole described the Minister for Finance's decision not to implement pension increases in line with salary increases as "unacceptable and unfair".
"Prior to to the general election, the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste, in their pre-election debates, committed themselves to restoring parity for retired people. Despite numerous meetings with the Department of Finance, no proposal has come forward." Mr O'Toole predicted the INTO rally on November 11th would be "the biggest demonstration so far on this issue, but it is only the start."
"Executive members of the INTO are this week consulting teachers in specific areas about further action, including industrial action. This injustice must be corrected," he said.
No decision on the type of industrial action will be taken before consultative meetings around the State, but even a refusal to cooperate with some of the changes agreed under the restructuring agreement could close schools for several days each term.
"The principle of parity for pensioners is the most sacred one. It has now been cast aside without consideration," Mr O'Toole said.
Teachers who had tightened their belts during the difficult period of the 1980s were now being discriminated against when they were at their most vulnerable. It was "nauseating" that the Government should behave like this at the moment of the State's greatest wealth.