Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There are three sets of pay scales operating in teaching. Whatever happened to equal pay for equal work? There are teachers who qualified after 2011 and 2012 who are doing exactly the same work as, but being paid less than, their counterparts in other classrooms who qualified earlier. How does the Minister justify that? That is why the ASTI is taking a stance.

The ASTI is often told it is the only teachers' union that did not accept the Lansdowne Road agreement. It is the largest secondary teachers' union in the country. The TUI has a mix of different members. That is how I would explain the differing results on accepting the agreement. Obviously, if one does not work in those conditions, one may deliver a different result. The hourly rates of pay have been reduced, as has the qualified rate, and allowances have been removed. Teachers and others are in precarious work, with one in four secondary teachers working part-time and being forced to take up other employment.

The Minister should stop attacking the ASTI when it is trying to take a stand against that.

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