SUBSTITUTE teachers who are essentially 'permanent' staff are still being denied pay rises, holidays, carer leave and sick-pay.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) northern conference heard that an agreement to pay subs for sick leave from January 1 was being frustrated.
Members said this was "unacceptable" and demanded that the union move to support supply staff "with legal action if necessary".
The INTO has long maintained that subs are being held to ransom because they are being denied full time contracts. Many have more than four years' teaching experience but are yet to hold down a permanent job.
A central register allows schools to identify qualified teachers who are available for part time work. There are more than 8,000 teachers on the substitute register.
It is claimed that there is a growing exploitation of this system where too many schools are using what is meant to be a short-term solution to cover long-term teaching requirements.
Employing teachers in this way means they can be refused access to numerous provisions, including occupational sick-pay, paid holidays, carer leave and, in some cases, incremental pay progression.
INTO northern secretary Gerry Murphy said his union entered into an agreement with employing authorities and the Department of Education in January that substitute teachers would be paid sick pay.
"Despite this, our members report that DE are refusing now to honour this contractual requirement indicating that the current pay regulations pose a problem. This is an unacceptable state of affairs and delegates at this Conference are demanding that INTO moves to support such individuals with legal action if necessary," Mr Murphy said.
"Substitute teachers' rights have for too long been ignored. Presently over 100 individuals, employed as substitute teachers, are working in schools for over four years. These teachers are now entitled to confirmation as permanent teachers. Yet many of these individuals were never advised of their rights or how to assert them. As a result they have lost out in respect of sick pay, holiday pay, promotions and their professional development. This must end."
