Allowances cut 'would kickstart unrest'

PAY AND CONDITIONS:ALLOWANCES ARE an intrinsic part of teachers' pay and any attempt to cut them would constitute a breach of the Croke Park agreement, Teachers Union of Ireland general secretary John MacGabhann warned yesterday.

Mr MacGabhann said the current review of allowances being conducted by the Department of Expenditure and Reform should recognise that “allowances are an intrinsic, indivisible part of teachers’ pay”. He also criticised cutbacks in education.

TUI president Bernie Ruane echoed Mr MacGabhann’s comments, pointing out that the TUI executive had already passed a motion to issue a ballot for industrial action if teachers’ pay was touched. “If the Government wants to be in breach of the Croke Park Agreement by attacking our pay which has already taken a 20 per cent reduction, then they need to realise that it is they who will have kickstarted a period of industrial unrest.”