redundancies make no economic sense – TUI
(03 Apr 2009)
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) today warned in a pre-Budget submission that teacher redundancies make no economic sense. In the majority of cases, TUI estimates that the net gain to the Exchequer would be an absolute maximum of €5,000 and probably much less.
The union has again highlighted in advance of next Tuesday’s budget that our education system cannot sustain more cutbacks.
General Secretary Peter MacMenamin outlined the main points.
“TUI has estimated that the various cutbacks announced last September will result in the loss of 1,200 jobs at second level.
However, the reality is that those teachers who will be let go are on a lower point on the teachers’ salary scale. In the majority of cases, these teachers will not be working full hours.
Such a teacher, earning in the region of €25,000 would have deductions in terms of tax etc. of the order of €10,000. If unemployed he/she will now have to be paid social welfare of around €10,000 (perhaps more depending on personal circumstances). The cost to the Exchequer in the form of taxation income lost together with the social welfare benefit being paid will bring the ‘saving’ to the exchequer of this newly unemployed citizen to approximately €5,000. In addition the unemployed teacher will have additional benefits, e.g. medical card further encroaching on this ‘saving’ and much of the income of the teacher while working would be spent on items generating economic activity and thus VAT – this also being lost to the exchequer, rendering the saving to the tax bill close to zero.
Regardless of ideology, there seems tacit understanding among all commentators that educating and re-skilling the population is critical to any hope we have of economic recovery.
Teachers and lecturers are critical to this recovery, and a net gain of a maximum of €5,000, probably much less, from making a teacher redundant represents a risibly meagre gain to the Exchequer while being hugely damaging to the school community losing the employee.
This also raises the worrying issue of ‘brain drain’ of our best and brightest young teachers over the next few years to jurisdictions where there are more job opportunities.”
Calculations based on information supplied by TUI's Principals and Deputy Principals Association (PDA)