Three teachers unions unite behind pay strategy
By Aideen O'Flaherty
THE president of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, who has spent his teaching career working in primary schools in the county, was at the helm of the INTO as the country’s three teachers’ unions united, for the first time in 32 years, to call for pay equality for all teachers.
The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI), the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the INTO tabled motions at their conferences on Tuesday, April 3, where teachers overwhelmingly backed plans for industrial action if issues with pay inequality are not resolved by next month.
New pay arrangements were implemented in 2011 that put newly qualified teachers on a lower pay scale than their colleagues, and unions are now calling for pay parity with plans for all-out industrial action if a government deal to resolve the pay inequality issue is not reached by next month.
John Boyle, the president of the INTO and principal of St Colmcille’s Junior National School in Knocklyon, told The Echo: “One of the challenges facing teachers at the moment is the fact that so many teachers aren’t getting equal pay for equal work.”
Mr Boyle added: “For the first time in 32 years the three teachers’ unions have united behind a pay strategy.
“All of the unions proposed the exact same motions at our conferences, demanding that young teachers have equal pay negotiated in the next month, if that doesn’t happen then we will embark on industrial action.”
Wednesday also marked the end of the INTO’s annual conference, and of Mr Boyle’s year-long term as president of the union.
Remained for 14 years
The primary school teacher’s first teaching job after he graduated from St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra was in Scoil Mhuire in Ballyboden, where he remained for 14 years before being appointed principal of St Colmcille’s Junior National School in 2000.
Describing the highpoints of his time as INTO president, Mr Boyle said: “I’m a bit sad that the year went so fast, but I’m delighted with the progress we’ve made.
“There have been many highlights during my time as president of the INTO, some of the highlights were visiting 180 branches of the union in the north and south of the country and visiting so many schools.”
Mr Boyle is now looking forward to returning to St Colmcille’s following his year as president, saying that it is “a fantastic place to work in and I’m looking forward to leading learning and helping the teachers in the school”.
The INTO is the largest and oldest teachers’ trade union in Ireland, which is in its 150th year of existence.
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