Teachers’ unions threaten strike action over unequal pay

We could see widespread school closures later this year as a teachers' strike may be on the cards.

All three teachers' unions have said they will consider strike action if the government doesn't commit to equal pay within the sector by early next month, reports RTÉ. The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), the Teachers' Union of Ireland and the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) want the current two-tier pay system for teachers to be abolished. Since 2011, newly-qualified teachers have been on a lower pay scale and have had different conditions to those who were teaching before that year, an emergency measure in response to the recession. Over 20,000 teachers are affected by the lower pay, according to Newstalk. Each of the three unions today overwhelmingly backed an emergency motion to ballot for industrial action "up to and including strike action" if the government doesn't make a commitment by early May. The government and the unions are due to sit down for talks later in April. The unions are concerned that new teachers are being lured abroad by better wages and conditions. Over a quarter of a million secondary school students were affected when ASTI teachers went on a week-long strike in November of 2016, also over equal pay for new teachers. Far more pupils would be affected if all unions were to vote to strike this time around.