Pressure on the Government increased last night over pay when another second-level teachers' union voted for a pay increase on top of the 19 per cent included under the national pay deal.
Members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) voted by three to one to instruct their executive to lodge a fresh pay claim with the Government outside the current increases envisaged in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). The size of the new claim has yet to be decided.
The other second-level teachers' union - the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) - has already lodged a 30 per cent pay claim and rejected PPF. TUI members were asked in the ballot whether they accepted the 3 per cent "early settlers' " increase included as part of PPF. This "early settlers" claim arises because teachers, like some other public sector groups, lost out by settling early in the last national pay round.
This was rejected in the ballot and the union will now lodge a claim looking for a greater increase. The motion put to members said the 3 per cent claim "does not bridge the gap between teachers and other public sector workers". The TUI has already rejected PPF but agreed to be bound by an Irish Congress of Trade Unions decision to accept it. The 60 per cent turnout among the TUI's 10,000 eligible members surprised many in the union. It illustrated the currently angry mood among teachers on the pay issue, said sources.
The president of the TUI, Mr Joe Carolan, said the result and high turnout were "symptomatic" of the mood among teachers, ,which was one of deep dissatisfaction over pay.
He said while the result sent a clear signal, the union's priority was to get pay increases by working through the benchmarking body included as part of PPF.
He said this would be set up shortly and had the potential to reward teachers. He said the union would be fighting hard in the body to get generous increases. Benchmarking involves trying to assess the salaries of public sector groups by examining their productivity levels and workload.
The vote comes ahead of an important meeting in Dublin between all three teaching unions on June 16th to plan a joint strategy on pay. While the three unions want greater unity, they have been following different strategies over the last few months. The ASTI has warned it will take industrial action if the 30 per cent special pay claim is not granted by the Government. It has refused to rule out hitting the Leaving Certificate exams as part of this campaign.
This campaign has been championed by the ASTI president, Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan, and it has received wide support within the union so far.
In contrast, the leaderships of the primary teachers' union, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the TUI favour working through the new benchmarking process.
The INTO general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, has stated that teachers could get a 30 per cent pay increase by using this process.
However, Ms O'Sullivan dismissed the benchmarking body at the ASTI's annual conference in April in Killarney, Co Kerry.