Northern Ireland

Teachers north and south demand `fair pay'

INTO members in the north have staged strike action as part of a pay dispute. Picture by Hugh Russell
INTO members in the north have staged strike action as part of a pay dispute. Picture by Hugh Russell INTO members in the north have staged strike action as part of a pay dispute. Picture by Hugh Russell

TEACHERS north and south have criticised cuts to pay imposed over the last eight years.

The INTO annual congress, which is being held in Belfast, heard demands for a reversal of cuts across Ireland along with pay equality in the Republic.

Members in the north began have taken strike action and withdrawn cooperation with inspectors as part of a pay dispute.

In the Republic, teachers said pay equality was at the top of their agenda. Speakers acknowledged that progress has been made but the campaign needed to continue until full pay parity has been achieved.

Separate pay scales have been in operation for new entrant teachers since 2011. This means that a new entrant on January 1 2018 will start on 97 per cent of a pre-2011 teacher.

Joe McKeown from the central executive committee said equal pay for equal work was a core principle.

"It should be standard practice for all fair-minded employers," he said.

"Even with recent improvements, this represents career long losses of more than €75,000."

Dorothy McGinley from the union's executive told the conference that teachers in the north were "drowning under a tsunami of initiatives including targets, monitoring and evaluation".

Yet she said salaries in the north were not taking account of this.

"There's a general mood that our job just isn't worth the grief anymore," she said.