Have pay increases for teachers kept pace with inflation over the last number of years?
No, the same as the rest of the public service and, more broadly, most workers. Pay increases under the “Building Momentum” pay deal and the first two years of the Public Service Agreement 2024–26 amounted to 15.75%, or 16.89% cumulatively. Average annual inflation over the same period totalled 20.8%, or 22.44% cumulatively. Taken together, this means pay has fallen behind prices.
The INTO has supported the argument made by the ICTU PSC that a pay increase is required to cover the period from July to December this year. Inflation was running at 3.6% in May, more than wiping out the benefit of the 1% increases paid in February and June.
What is the core issue for teachers at the heart of this dispute?
The vast majority of our members (like most workers in Ireland) are struggling to make ends meet. There is increasing frustration relating to the uncertainty surrounding salaries, particularly amid a cost-of-living crisis. Thousands of teachers and their families are unable to cope with the cost of food, travel, energy, fuel, mortgages, and rent. Young teachers are moving away in their droves. They have been driven to take industrial action, as our members are rightly enraged by the Government’s failure to honour in full the previous public service agreement or to engage meaningfully with our union on the other pressing issues affecting them and the children they teach. This Government has point-blank refused to present workers’ representatives with serious proposals on pay. Their decision to ignore their own workforce is a political choice that cannot be tolerated any longer. If they have €1.3 billion for hospitality business owners, property developers, and haulage companies—with no obvious resulting benefit to consumers or the staff employed by these big businesses—then they can find money for workers. Two hundred quid in tax cuts for 2027 won’t cut it!
The INTO said nearly 100% support for action—that is unprecedented?
In terms of the scale of the ballot, yes. It was the largest ballot of primary teachers ever undertaken in the history of the 26-county state. Turnout was 57.5% of INTO members in the 26 counties, approximately 28,000 members, and 99.5% of those who voted supported action. The massive support for a yes vote far exceeds the two-thirds majority required to proceed with action. It’s also worth noting that a separate action is being planned by our members in the North as they fight to secure meaningful and lasting reductions in workload in the six counties.
Has the union served strike notice, and what action is planned?
We have notified school managerial authorities and the Department of Education and Youth (DEY) of the union’s 5 October commencement date and its initial plan for industrial action up to and including strike action. The detailed nature of the action on 5 October will be decided by the INTO Central Executive Committee on 5 October. INTO members will also join with fellow public sector workers in the proposed nationwide strike on Wednesday, 14 October.
What are teachers looking for?
Officially, a multi-annual agreement with living standards paramount. In more general terms, fair pay for all public servants and a deal that sees our members paid in a way that ensures they and their families can afford to work and live in Ireland. We need to push for a society that values teachers, education, public servants, and public services. The Government doesn’t seem to be interested in that type of society, so it’s time to make them wake up to the fact that the people of this island do.
