Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Adult education tutors are public servants employed by the education and training boards, ETBs. There are more than 3,000 of these workers employed across 16 ETBs, many of whom are fully qualified and registered teachers, but they are paid the unregistered teacher rate. Their hours are capped at 22 hours of class contact time per week and they are not paid for any preparation, research or work they do to prepare lesson plans. They are unpaid during holidays, meaning many are forced to sign on to the dole during summer, Christmas and so on, for up to 17 weeks in the year. This and the cap in their hours means they are not entitled to the full public service pension. They seek pay parity. Tutors employed after 2011 are paid at a lower rate. They are also seeking proper contracts of employment and an end to precarity.

In March 2020 the Labour Court recommended that they be given proper employment contracts. In July of last year, they were told that this would be done by September. They are still waiting. When will we see action on this issue?

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