Teachers want reasonable offer from government

TEACHERS and assistant staff across South Dublin took to the picket lines calling for a wage increase as the cost of living hits an all-time high and demanding “better, stronger services” for children and families.

Workers across the public sector took industrial action bright and early on Wednesday to highlight the government’s failure to deliver overdue pay increases at a time when rent and living expenses continue to climb.

ASTI Shop Stewart for St Mark’s, Sandra Fay, spoke to The Echo about the action her colleagues want to see the government take in order to take the pressure off teachers.

Sandra mentioned the young staff of St Mark’s who are struggling to afford the extortionate price of Dublin rent on top of the cost of the basics, such as groceries and electricity.

“Housing is the biggest increase.

From January to September, the cost of housing is a 9.5 per cent increase, and that’s according to the CPI (Consumer Price Index). That in itself would be conservative.”

“According to our union, we haven’t had a cost-of-living [wage] increase between 2021 and 2025, which is 5 per cent, and then this year alone, the CPI has inflation at 4.1 just up till September.

‘So, you’re really talking a 9.1 per cent increase, and I don’t think the unions or the government know where the meeting ground will be.”

Sandra went on to describe the changes she has noticed in recent years regarding the huge increase in teachers joining the union, especially among the new generation of teachers.

“Our teaching staff are approximately 90 per cent unionised, and we have a particularly young staff who are really feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

‘I have been the shop steward in the school for nearly School in Clondalkin, spoke to The Echo on behalf of staff at the school, calling for a “reasonable offer” from the government.

“We are on strike given that the government let the last pay deal expire without inviting us to the table for talks. 24 hours before the strike, they asked us in with no actual preconditions on what we were talking about, so that’s why we are here.

“Continual comments from government people like Micheal Martin saying we are dying to be on strike aren’t going to help matters, so we will be here next Wednesday if the government don’t come to us with a reasonable offer for talks.”

Sandra told The Echo that taking strike action is a last resort for teachers, who are on their “knees as a workforce, both public and private” … “we really want to do our work to rule, we really want to do fewer strike days. We want to be heard [and for the government] to say that nothing can happen

without us, but we can’t survive on what’s been offered.”

It is hoped that industrial action will lead to an agreement between the government and trade unions, who have been “putting massive productivity” on teachers’ backs, leading to them being “exhausted for 1 per cent increases”

“We’re sitting here with a wage decrease of 9.1 per cent. That should be our starting point.”

“This is a cost of living pay claim, so we should not be talking about our productivity.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme