Teachers protest outside Anglo Irish Bank

TEACHERS WERE “furious” and “fed up” and may embark on work stoppages, a group of protesting primary and secondary school teachers said yesterday.

Naming themselves as members of a new grassroots teachers’ organisation, Teachers United, the 20 or so people gathered outside the headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin carrying placards with such slogans as “Bail out education, not the banks” and “We will not pay for bankers’ greed”.

Gerry Murphy, a secondary school teacher in Dublin, said he was protesting because he, like other teachers, was taking a pay cut, while the banks were being subsidised. “We didn’t create this problem,” he said. “We shouldn’t be asked to pay while the banks get our taxes.”

Niall Smith, a primary school teacher in Dublin, said Teachers United was formed in December in response to cuts in education and had members in the three teachers’ unions. “We formed to give a perspective of the rank and file in all the unions.”

Asked why it was felt necessary to form a new group, he said the unions were “wedded to social partnership for so long they can’t see a solution other than social partnership”. “Why should we be made to pay for the sins of the banks? It’s just not on. It’s important at this stage that all workers unite. There is an attempt to pit public sector workers against the private sector.”

Anna O’Loughlin, a primary teacher in Dublin 7, said her take-home pay had fallen by about €200 a month and she didn’t know how she would pay her mortgage.