Primary teachers expressed their anger and defiance as they called for "decent salaries across the board" - a share in the profits of Ireland's economic boom - at the INTO conference in Galway yesterday. The union voted to pursue with the ASTI and the TUI a salary increase for teachers and to take appropriate action if no progress is made.
"There is already growing disquiet about the reduced purchasing power of teachers' salaries," Mr Des Rainey, vice-president of the union, said. "There can be no argument whatsoever about our commitment and desire to engage in professional development which will enhance our skills. All we are asking is that our commitment is rewarded in a fair manner by paying decent salaries across the board."
Teachers were "already trying voluntarily to respond to our changing role in society and in our schools", he said. "We are demanding that this commitment and enthusiasm is not taken for granted and that our salaries reflect this dedication."
Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the INTO, said the Government "as our partners in the national agreement, gave certain commitments and undertakings in the course of our negotiations".
The teachers' union negotiators and other "early settlers" conveyed in good faith to union executives those boundaries and parameters of the PCW deal as given by the Government. Members voted in good faith, he said, but "in the meantime the Government changed its mind in dealings with later groups and this has led to significant consequences".
The early settlers lost out in financial terms, he told delegates. The Government "must pay up now", he said. "We want to know who got the doubling of wealth that has taken place in this country over the last 10 years."
Mr Donal O Loingsigh told the conference the one-third of INTO members in the Republic who work in the greater Dublin area "will no longer be in a position to purchase houses in Dublin".
The economic boom had left "our younger members worse off in real terms than before", he said. "Even if the Government hadn't breached its own parameters on pay when settling with other public groups we would still be facing a major pay crisis which will have to be faced up to in the next round of pay negotiations."