Teachers’ union, the ASTI, is to take the summer holidays to consider the Benchmarking Body’s report before making any decisions on how it will respond.
The ASTI’s 23-body standing committee met today for an information meeting on the report but no decisions were made, the union said. It is due to meet again towards the end of August.
"There are important issues for members arising out of the report and the committee needs time to consider it fully," a spokeswoman said.
The ASTI refused to take part in the benchmarking process, instead opting to pursue its 30 per cent pay claim for its secondary teacher members. Other teaching unions have broadly welcomed their 13 - 17.6 per cent pay award, recommended by the report.
Meanwhile the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said yesterday it would meet with Department of Finance officials. Unions gave a cautious reaction to the benchmarking report, published on Monday, which recommends an average 8.9 per cent pay rise for public sector workers.