"Aontú Supports Equal Pay for Equal Work" - Tóibín
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has called on the government to act swiftly to end pay inequality for teachers. He has highlighted Aontú's support for renewed calls by the teaching unions for teachers' salaries to be set on the same pay scale, as they had been prior to 2011. Speaking after the ASTI, INTO and TUI annual conferences, Deputy Tóibín added his voice to the Unions' fair and reasonable request that teachers are treated equally in terms of their pay scale.
Deputy Tóibín stated:
"The government's longstanding refusal to address the issue of pay inequality for teachers is unacceptable. Pay inequality is a real area of concern for young teachers especially and is a remnant of the austerity era that the government seeks to portray as being long finished. Pay inequality unjustly targets new teachers, adding to the financial pressures that they and their families face.
As is the case with many Irish nurses, many of our young teachers feel that they have little alternative but to seek employment abroad because of the lower pay scale they are placed on compared to their colleagues and the general lack of government investment in Ireland's education system. It is time that the government worked constructively with unions to ensure that pay inequality for teachers is brought to an end.
The government's unwillingness to date to address pay inequality, and Fianna Fáil's de facto endorsement of that approach, illustrates that there has been little genuine desire among the establishment for equality and fairness where teachers' salaries are concerned".
