Frequently Asked Questions on the Haddington Road proposals

The measures, protections and procedures in the original Croke Park agreement will remain in force, except where they have been explicitly changed by the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA).

This means that members at second level will continue to work the 33 hours and members at third level will continue to work the ‘flex hours’. The protections against compulsory redundancy for permanent whole time or CID holders will remain in place.

Does the Haddington Road Agreement cut pay?

The pay of all public servants earning over €65,000 (salary inclusive of allowances) was cut from July 1, 2013. The pay cuts were implemented as follows:

Members earning €65,000-€80,000, had a 5.5% cut on earnings up to €80,000.

This cut is subject to a floor of €65,000 which means that those earning slightly over €65,000 will have their salary cut to the floor of €65,000 and it will not fall below this. Please note that the floor does not mean that all those earning over €65,000 will have their earnings collapsed to €65,000. The maximum cut for those earning between €65,000 and €80,000 is 5.5%.

Additional earnings between €80,000 and €150,000 were reduced by 8%.
Earnings between €150,000 and €185,000 were reduced by 9%.
Any earnings over €185,000 were reduced by 10%.

Are the pay cuts permanent?

Under the Haddington Road proposals pay for those earning between €65,000 and €100,000 will be restored in full by 1 January 2018. Restoration will occur in two equal phases on 1 April 2017 and on 1 January 2018.

I am part-time, if my wholetime equivalent salary is over €65,000, will my pay be cut?

Under the Haddington Road Agreement and under FEMPI legislation, staff who work less than full-time hours (job sharers, part-time workers, etc) on a point of salary scale where the full-time salary is over €65,000 will have their salaries reduced on a pro-rata basis.

TUI has identified this as an unfair anomaly. This provision is currently being challenged by the Public Services Committee of the ICTU under the anomalies clause of Haddington Road.

What happens to increments?

Under Haddington Road, all staff earning under €100,000 will get the next increment they are due after 1 July 2013 on the due date and then incremental progression will be subject to pauses as follows:

Those earning less than €35,000 will receive the next increment they are due (e.g. 1^st September 2013) and then wait 15 months (to 1^st December 2014) for the next – a 3 month delay. Incremental date will now be 1^st December and subsequent increments will be paid at 12 month intervals, with the following increment paid on 1^st December 2015.
Those earning €35,000-65,000 will receive the next increment due (e.g. 1^st September 2013), wait 15 months (to 1^st December 2014) for the next and then a further 15 months (to 1^st March 2016) for the following increment - two 3 month delays. Incremental date will now be 1^st March and subsequent increments will be paid at 12 month intervals, with the following increment paid on 1^st March 2017.
Those earning €65,000-100,000 will receive the next increment due (e.g. 1^st September 2013), then wait 18 months (to 1^st March 2015) and a further 18 months (to 1^st September 2016) - two 6 month delays. Incremental date will be 1^st September and subsequent increments will be paid at 12 month intervals, with the following increment paid on 1^st September 2017.
Those earning above €100,000 would be subject to a 3-year incremental freeze.

Please note that as, under Haddington Road, the next increment after July 1, 2013 will be paid from the due date, retrospection will apply for TUI members where appropriate.

What happens if I move into another earnings band during the life of the proposed agreement?

Under Haddington Road, if your salary increases to above €35,000 during the life of the proposed agreement, you would be subject to a second incremental pause of three months as applies to those within the band €35,000 – €65,000 (see above).
If your earnings increase above €65,000 during the lifetime of the proposed agreement you would be subject to the pay reduction that applies to those earning over €65,000, subject to the floor of €65,000.

What happens to S&S?

Under Haddington Road:

Payment for S&S is discontinued.
Participation is compulsory for all.
The 37 hours max liability per annum will be increased to a maximum of 43. For new entrants from February 2012, the S&S liability will be reduced from 49 to 43 hours per annum.
Teachers will be required to indicate availability for substitution for 5 classes per week. The maximum (combined) S&S that can be required will be 3 hours per week, subject to a maximum annual total of 43 hours.

Under the current S&S scheme (which involves an annual maximum commitment of 37 hours to be used over 33.4 weeks of the school year with a maximum requirement of 1 hour 30 minutes in any one week) a teacher would have delivered all of her/his annual commitment by week 25 if s/he is required to do 1 hour 30 minutes each week from the commencement of the school year. If, instead, a school were to organise S&S to ensure the same level of availability in each of the 33.4 weeks, the weekly ask would be 1 hour 6 minutes and some 30 seconds.

Under the Haddington Road proposals, S&S would involve an annual maximum commitment of 43 hours to be used over 33.4 weeks of the school year with a maximum requirement of 3 hours in any one week. In this scenario a teacher would have delivered all of her/his annual commitment by week 15 if s/he is required to do 3 hours each week from the commencement of the school year. If, instead, a school were to organise S&S to ensure the same level of availability in each of the 33.4 weeks, the weekly ask would be 1 hour 17 minutes and some 15 seconds.

Will the S&S payment be restored under Haddington Road?

In recognition of the loss of the S&S pensionable allowance and the change to a compulsory scheme, a gross payment of €1592 will be applied to the incremental scale for all teachers. This will be pensionable and will be applied to the incremental scale in two equal moieties; €796 in the school year 2016/17 and €796 in the school year 2017/18.

How does the new S&S scheme operate for part-time teachers?

The DES has confirmed that in the event of the Haddington Road proposals being accepted the S&S commitment will be pro-rata for teachers on part-time hours. Therefore, for example, a teacher on:

11 hours per week (e.g. job-sharing) will have an annual commitment of 21.5 S&S hours (i.e. 21 hours, 30 minutes).
5 hours per week will have an annual commitment of 9.77 S&S hours (i.e. 9 hours, 46 minutes).
10 hours per week will have an annual commitment of 19.55 S&S hours (i.e. 19 hours, 33 minutes).
16 hours per week will have an annual commitment of 31.27 S&S hours (i.e. 31 hours, 16 minutes).

How do the extra hours operate at third level?

The entirety of the 78 hours are offset against/absorbed by the reduction in evening weighting hours (from 1.5 to 1.25) and the withdrawal of church holidays. The practical implementation of this means:

Where academic staff are timetabled after 6pm they will receive a weighting of 1.25 hours for each hour timetabled, instead of the 1.5 hours that currently applies.
Where a college was closed on a church holiday or where church holidays were grouped together in line with local agreement the college would now be open and academic staff could be timetabled for normal teaching hours, subject to the weekly norms plus flex.

The 78 hours are fully absorbed by the reduction in weighting and the church holidays. There is no individual liability on academic staff to teach an additional 78 hours. There is no collective or aggregated liability. None of the hours can be applied to teaching/lecturing outside the specified church holidays/grouped days.

In effect, the offset/absorption in respect of the reduced weighting for working after 6pm is a quid pro quo.

Is the exam marking fee at third level be cut under the Haddington Road proposals?

At third level the exam marking fee will be reduced to 75% of the current rate.

Is there any cut in fees for marking State Examinations (Junior Certificate/ Leaving Certificate) under Haddington Road?

I currently work a 35 hour week, are my hours increased?

Members who work a 35 hour week (such as Youthreach Resource Persons or Coordinators) will have their weekly working hours increased to 37 hours under Haddington Road.

What does the Haddington Road proposal on CIDs mean?

Currently, in order to qualify for a CID, a teacher/lecturer must have four years continuous teaching service on two or more fixed term contracts with the same employer and have commenced a fifth year with that employer. This is what the Fixed Term Work Act and current Circular Letters provide. Under the Haddington Road Agreement, the time period for teachers and lecturers to qualify for a CID would be reduced to three years continuous service with the same employer and a CID would be awarded on the commencement of the fourth year.
It has been agreed that under Haddington Road, teachers/lecturers commencing their fourth year of continuous service in September 2013 would be entitled to a CID.

How will the proposed panel for fixed-term teachers operate?

A permanency panel will be established from September 2014 for teachers who have had sustained periods of employment with more than one school/ETB over an extended period of time. It will provide a mechanism for permanency for teachers with significant service with different employers and who are therefore not entitled to a CID. The panel would allow fixed-term teachers to build up credit for teaching service, in order to be added to a panel from which permanent teaching vacancies would be filled. Vacancies to be filled from the panel would arise after CID entitlements have been awarded and redeployments have taken place.

What does Haddington Road mean for new entrant salary scales?

Under Haddington Road there would be an improvement in the salary scales for ‘new entrants’ (i.e. those who commenced employment after 1 January 2011) at second and third level. At second level this amounts to a salary increase of about 3%-4% on each point of the scale. Salary at the top of the scale would be increased by up to €6,500 per annum.

The new salary scales, together with the payment of increments mean that some NQTs will gain over €4,000 a year by September 2016 under the Haddington Road proposals. The application of €1,592 to the salary scale for all teachers - in recognition of the loss of the S&S payment – means this gain for NQTs will increase to up to €6,000 per year by 2018.

Do the 33 ‘Croke Park’ hours & flex hours remain?

Under Haddington Road members at second level will continue to work the 33 hours and members at third level will continue to work the ‘flex hours’.

Can compulsory redundancies be made?

If members vote yes to Haddington Road, the protections against compulsory redundancy for permanent whole time or CID holders remain in place so these staff cannot be made compulsorily redundant for the lifetime of the Agreement.

Does Haddington Road introduce new performance management systems for teachers and lecturers?

The current ‘performance management’ system at third level is PMDS. This will remain in place under the Haddington Road proposals. The current ‘performance management’ system at second level is set out in CL59/09 – ‘Revised procedures in relation to professional competence issues and general disciplinary matters’. This will remain in place under the Haddington Road proposals.

Does the Haddington Road Agreement mean TUI members will have to cooperate with Junior Cert reform?

The Haddington Road Agreement is not related to Junior Cycle reform. It does not will prevent the TUI from taking whatever view it decides in relation to Junior Cycle or any element of it. Neither will impede the union in regard to taking action to protect the interests of members.

Are TUI members able to take industrial action under the Haddington Road Agreement?

If members vote to accept the Haddington Road Agreement, they are agreeing not to take industrial action on matters covered by the Agreement for the lifetime of the Agreement. However, this will not stop TUI from taking action over issues that are not covered by the Agreement.

How will the pay cuts affect my pension on retirement?

Teachers' pension benefits are calculated with reference to their gross annual salary on the date of their retirement and on allowances averaged over the previous 3 years. Under both the Haddington Road Agreement and FEMPI legislation, the pension benefits of teachers who retire on or before 31 August 2014 (referred to as the ‘grace period’) will be calculated on their pre-pay cut salary.

Under Haddington Road, there is an issue for those who retire after 31st August 2014, but before full restoration of pay (i.e. before 1 January 2018) who could see their lump sums reduced because it will be based on their pay rate at the time of retirement. This issue can be referred to the anomalies clause under Haddington Road and it is also open to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to extend the ‘grace period’ for retiring on pre-pay cut salary to a later date.