Teaching unions have indicated they will not enter talks with the Government on a new public service agreement until outstanding money due under the existing accord is paid.
Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary Kieran Christie told his union’s annual conference in Wexford there should be no consideration given to entering into a new deal while there was still payments outstanding from the current agreement.
In Kilkenny, the annual conference of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) heard the union would not participate in further pay talks until members received the remaining 1 per cent arising from the current pay deal.
An emergency motion to be debated at the TUI conference on Thursday will say its members will not comply with the new senior cycle redevelopment programme until they receive the 1 per cent.
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“The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform seems to be putting a hold on that. That’s not normal industrial relations,” said TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie.
“When you agree something with a parent department another department shouldn’t be holding things up. Our members did this in good faith. They’re prepared to do the work, therefore they deserve their pay.”
Christie told the ASTI conference that “teachers must receive a substantial pay rise, no ifs or buts”. He said such a pay increase “must happen”, but he did not set out a specific figure.
He maintained that the Government’s mindset was still in the era of austerity and that benefits for workers were standing still or going backwards.
“They seem to have no comprehension of a need to incorporate into public sector agreements any measures that would tilt towards addressing the daily problems that workers face, be they housing, childcare, healthcare or any of the rest of our big issues.”
He added: “The truth is that workers are only standing still or going backwards. For instance, in the budget for this year there was no indexing of tax bands and the energy credits were removed. A new deal will have to be a better deal.
Christie said he expected talks on a new public service agreement to begin later this month or in May. There was “no sense” the Government side has been or is willing to engage to ensure the provisions of public sector agreements that were advantageous to workers are addressed in a timely manner, he said.
He said the current agreement contained a provision for local bargaining negotiations that allowed employers and trade unions to negotiate additional changes in rates of pay by up to a maximum of 3 per cent of the basic pay cost.
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He said there had been “extraordinary delays across the public service”. He said very few local deals had been done and, to his knowledge, no part of the public sector workforce had yet received these payments.
“How can it be credible for the Government to expect unions to go back to members to ask that they agree a new deal when so much of the previous two deals in our case remains outstanding to be paid?” he asked.
“There should be no consideration of entering any new public sector pay agreement until the end line is in sight on local bargaining.”
Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton told the TUI conference it was her intention “that those who are co-operating with Government reforms under the senior cycle redevelopment in full, including, importantly, the additional assessment components (AACs), will receive the full benefits of the pay agreement”.
Speaking to journalists after her address, she said she could not put a timeline on when that pay increase would be implemented.
“I’d love to give you a date. All I can tell you that it is an absolute priority,” she said. “I’ve asked my officials to ensure that they are engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to deliver this money as quickly as possible.”
Naughton was asked about tensions with Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who is said to be deeply concerned at education overspending and a projected €500 million-plus education deficit this year.
“I absolutely understand that budgets need to be managed, and that’s something that I am committed to doing, but it was very clear when I came in that there was a structural deficit there within the department, and that base needs to be addressed, and that’s the work that’s ongoing,” Naughton told reporters.
