The Executive Committee of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) has committed to a sustained national campaign to restore equal pay for equal work. The union has warned that the further cut to new entrant salaries as a result of the elimination of qualification allowances ‘threatens to destroy the profession.’

Speaking today, TUI President Gerard Craughwell said:

“TUI’s Executive Committee has committed to a sustained campaign to restore equal pay for equal work. We will mobilise all teachers in defence of the profession – a teaching colleague being paid at a lesser rate is wrong, damaging and an anathema to collegiality.

The union will consult with members in order to finalise a strategy. This strategy will be a priority of the Executive at its next meeting.

The union is also exploring various legal avenues to protect the interests of new entrants.
What we are witnessing threatens to destroy teaching as a profession. It will collapse morale and diminish the calibre of entrants to teaching. New teachers have been singled out by this Government for a succession of particularly punitive attacks that will severely damage the education system and the quality of service available to students. A new teacher starting today will earn 22% less than a similarly qualified teacher who started just two years ago.”