The new national pay deal should be rejected because it offers "miserly" pay increases to teachers, a meeting of anti-agreement teachers was told last night.
The meeting was organised by a group called Teachers Against the Partnership Deal, which includes members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO).
It was attended by approximately 150 teachers who heard speeches strongly denouncing the deal, particularly the inclusion of a "benchmarking" process - where sectors of the public service agree to meet certain targets.
One of the speakers, Mr Eddie Conlon, a TUI executive member, said this was a "Trojan Horse" which would introduce private sector practices into the teaching profession. He said the new deal was an "all out assault" on the system of relativities by which teachers' pay was traditionally measured. Ms Nora Hamill, a member of the INTO, said the leaders of the three teachers' unions had "sold off" the strength of the teachers' unions by agreeing to sign up to the agreement. All the speakers called for the deal to be renegotiated. Mr Conlon said if teachers voted against it "the sky won't fall in".
However, as the group was meeting, the executive of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), the largest teachers' union, recommended the deal to its members.
It said: "While the programme does not contain all we would like, we recognise that the overall package represents a significant improvement in a number of pay and non-pay areas."
The union said as a result of the agreement a primary teacher would start on a salary of £19,500 for pass graduates and £21,000 for honour graduates. It said the agreement also made provision for 900 extra teaching posts at primary and 200 when the three-year deal expires.
"These 1,100 jobs reverse the trend of the 1980s and 1990s when we had hundreds of non-permanent teachers but no jobs. Now there will be posts waiting for new teachers as soon as they graduate from college," said a statement.
Mr Conlon said one of the problems with the new deal was that the final 4 per cent increase would only be paid if specific performance indicators were agreed and sectoral targets were met. He said this meant the 4 per cent would not automatically be paid.