Strong Statement from 3 Teacher Unions

In a joint statement from the INTO, ASTI an TUI, the further pausing of allowances was branded 'unfair'.

In this joint press release the three unions stood up for their younger members, and released a statement which indicated strong opposition to any further pay cuts to new teachers

After a 10% flat pay cut to NQTs in 2010 (Newly Qualified Teachers) and their being placed on a reduce point of the pay scale in 2011, has led to a 30% pay cut to new teachers recruited this September.

Compared to a colleague who commenced employment in 2010, the NQT of today will earn €11,000 less starting off, while still expected to complete the same tasks and bear the same responsibilties.

The issue of degraded and devastated pay and conditions for NQTs has been a high priority for the District 14 Nqt Sub-Committee since its establishment in 2010.

Near the end of last year, (June 2012), this Committee along with the District 15 Sub-Committee, and other NQT members across the Dublin, sent a petition to many schools to raise the issue. The main issue was the pausing of allowances. This campaign will be continued in September of this year.

For notice on our first meeting of the year and a chance to make a difference, please keep in touch on this blog, by email through intodistrict14nqt@gmail.com

It is very important for all members of the INTO to stand together on this issue, for a cut to experienced teachers to save the pennies for NQTs may lead to a slow downward trend of pay and conditions for all teachers.

Update on Some issues

Source of Picture: Intouch June 2012

INTO Consultation with NQTs

Towards the end of the school year, both the Chair and Secretary of District 14 NQT Group, accompanied by NQT Reps from other Dublin districts, met with INTO Officials for consultation on a range of issues.
Among those discussed were issues relating to NQT Participation, the establishing of NQT Groups, material provided to NQTs on membership of the INTO and Officer Training in order to increase NQT participation.
The discussions were very productive, and have led to some developments.
Further information from these consultation will be provided in September.

Teaching Council Membership...NOT Registered = No Pay

As of September 2012, membership and registration with the Teaching Council will be required in order for teachers to receive renumeration. Where membership is delayed or has lapsed, back-pay will not be a possibility. Therefore, we advise you re-new or apply for registration. This can be done online at the link above, or by post.
This is a welcomed development and has been fought for by NQTs and Experienced members of the INTO alike. It ensures even more that only qualified personnel will take up a teaching position in our classrooms.

National Induction Programme

For any NQTs who have not yet completed the National Induction Programme, it is recommended that you register for the workshops. College graduates will already be aware of how the workshops function and how they will guide you through your early years in the teaching profession.
You can look up and find your nearest venue for the course here.

Allowance Review pending and Sick Leave Pay under threat

There are numerous negotiations and deliberations underway and continuing around both of these issues. Both Allowances and Sick leave Pay are areas where the DPER (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) hopes to make considerable savings.

Firstly, regarding allowances, what was supposed to be a month long review has now transformed into a half-year review. Minister Brendan Howlin of the DPER, has not yet published the review which will detail where savings will be made. Allowances include supervision pay, allowances for further qualifications attained and Gaeltacht or Island Teachers. All new beneficiary allowances have been paused until the publication of the said review. (Keep your ear to the ground, may come out during the summer in hope we won't react!)

Secondly, the terms of Sick Pay Leave are in the sights of the Government. It is the intention of the Fine Gael/ Labour Coalition to standardise Sick Leave Terms across the Public Sector. Traditionally Primary School Teachers have had more favourable Sick Leave Terms, but it it clear the Government wants this to change.
Teachers currently have access to 12 months of Sick Leave paid in a rolling 4 year period.
The Government wishes to standardise this to 3 months leave on full pay, and a further 3 months on half-pay, within a 4 year period.
This has serious implication for teachers who suffer from serious ilnesses.

For example, if a teacher becomes ill and is forced to take 6 months off work, they will receive 3 months full pay and 3 months half-pay. (There is an alleviation package for those who have to take further leave). If it were the case that the ilness re-occured, and sick leave was required, the teacher would not be paid during their leave, having used their assigned standardise allocation under the new reform.

This is obviously a massive shift in terms, and the INTO is currently in talks with other Public Sector Unions at the Labour Relations Commission. The Dept. of Pubic Expenditure and Reform intends to introduce the relevant legislation for these changes in the Autumn. (Dáil Éireann resumes session on September 18th)

Updates- 29/3/12

Here is a series of Updates on Current Issues:

Allowances:      NB!!     NB !!
Yesterday, Minister Ruairi Quinn in reply to a Question from Fine Gael TD Jim Daly, revealed the cost of Allowances in 2011. The total for Primary Schools Teachers was 313 million. This is ahead of an expected announement (already a month late) from Minister Brendan Howlin as the Department of Public Expenditure conducts a review of Public Service Allowances, with view of saving 5% this year, 10% next year and a further 10%.
Minister Quinn's announcement paints a picture of 'a pot of gold' for teachers, but for NQTs and Graduates, that is not the case, having already taking a 20% salary cut since 2008.

INTO Ass. General Secretary Noel Ward reacted by saying that 'These are allowances considered part of pay protected by the Croke Park Agreement, and we will strongly resist any attacks on these allowances.
Click here for the RTE News clip, and the above reaction from Noel Ward.

NQTs and Graduates must be prepared for what may come, and be ready to mount a serious campaign.
An update on issues will be forthcoming, including when the Review is published.


Teaching Council:
The new Teaching Council has been elected this week. But another significant announcement has been made. The fee for Teaching Council Registration, currently 90 euro per annum, has been reduced to 65 euro. This welcomed progress after much pressure from the INTO Membership, and is a step in the right direction.

INTO Congress 2012:
The Motions up for debate for Congress 2012 in Killarney cover a wide range of areas. Members of the NQT Group will be Delegates at Congress, and will be speaking on motions pertaing to NQTs and others. On the basis of NQT motions, there are a positive number. Here they are:

Item 3:
Congress:
a. condemns the continued targeting of the pay and conditions of NQTs;
b. instructs the CEC, in conjunction with other public service unions, to
step up its campaign of action to have these reductions to starting
salaries rescinded;
c. endorses the INTO’s Claim to the Equality Tribunal that this salary cut
amounts to discrimination on the age ground;
d. commits the INTO to seeking to equalise teachers’ pay scales through
seeking a preferential increase for teachers on the 2011 reduced
scales at the first and every subsequent opportunity, where salaries
are being increased, until such time as the scales are equalized.

Item 6:
Congress:
a. notes with concern that despite the stated intention of the Minister for
Education and Skills in June 2011 to commence Section 30 of the
Teaching Council Act unamended, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012
will in effect enshrine in legislation the right of unqualified personnel
to work and be paid as teachers in Irish primary schools;
b. instructs the CEC to:
(i) urgently seek a meeting with the Minister for Education and
Skills to demand the immediate commencement of Section 30 of
the Teaching Council Act unamended;
(ii) withdraw all cooperation from the Teaching Council and calls on
all members of the Teaching Council who have sought INTO
endorsement to resign from the Teaching Council if the
Education (Amendment) Bill 2012 is passed into law.

Item 7:
Congress:
a. notes the terms of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) Bill 2011;
b. believes the changes as contained in the Bill are not justified on
evidence of cost or otherwise;
c. reaffirms INTO’s strong opposition to the diminution of Public Service
pension terms for new entrants which is part of the attack on
workers’ occupational pensions across the private and public sectors;
d. notes the campaign of lobbying and publicity, and the strike by INTO
members in Northern Ireland on 30 November 2011, as part of the
INTO’s efforts to protect the pension terms of existing and future
members in both jurisdictions on the island; and
e. calls on the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to
immediately carry out an updated actuarial review of teachers’
pension terms, as provided for in Section 40 of the Bill, and to revise
the contributions of, and benefits to, new entrant teachers affected
by the Bill, on the basis of such review.

Item 12:
Congress:
a. notes the significant contribution that primary teachers make to the
continued development of teaching, learning and research in the Irish
primary education system through their engagement in postgraduate
studies;
b. condemns the government’s decision to abolish Special Education
Diploma/Masters/Doctorate qualification allowances for teachers who
will undertake these courses in the future and the threat to the
payment of the qualification allowances to teachers currently
undertaking these courses;
c. demands that the CEC enter into negotiations with the DES to allow for
the retention of the academic allowances for teachers currently pursuing
courses of study which they began prior to December 5th 2011.
d. further demands that remuneration for extra qualifications be
reinstated.

Teaching Council Elected

The incoming Teaching Council has been elected. You can access the full list of those elected here, or simply view the full primary teachers' list here.

The Council will meet for the first time on Wednesday 28th of March. We urge all NQTs and NPTs to engage with the Teaching Council through members known to them, email, phone, letter, or through any consultation process that takes place. For example, this Friday 30th of March is the deadline for Submissions to the consultation on 'Career Entry Professional Programme' (CEPP). You can access all relevant documents here.

We wish all those newly elected and those re-elected members of the Teaching Council, every success in their term.

Important Panel Right Updates, TC Elections, Next Meeting

Since the issuing of Circulars last week, there have been multiple updates on Panel Rights for a range of teachers. We urge NQTs and NPTs to read the cirucular, information sheets. In addition to this it will be important to attend one of the many information meetings organised by the INTO.

The circulars, FAQ info, and the meeting dates can be found here

The next meeting in Dublin will be on Thursday 15th March, at 4.30pm in the Teacher's Club, Parnell Square

In other news, The Teaching Council have re-issued Ballot papers to members after a typographical fault with the previously issued papers. Do not hesitate to research or contact the candidates in your constituency to sound out their priorities and beliefs for NQTs and NPTs, if they succeed in being elected to the Teaching Council as an INTO representative.

Finally, the date of our NQT/NPT Pre-Congress Meeting is Wednesday 21st March in The Teacher's Club, with time TBC. All will recieve an email about it in due course, hopefully today, with an Agenda for the meeting also.

Pay Cuts mount for New Graduates and NQTs

Is there a call for a serious reaction in the face of serious circumstances?

For new entrants to the public service a 10% pay cut, beginning on a lower point of the scale and a 7.5% pension levy are already slicing the bottom line of new teachers' payslips, a cut of 25%. By the end of  February allowances may also be added to that long list.

To suggest 3 years ago that a teacher would have to live on 3/4 of  pay would more than likely have been laughed at as blind speculation and hyperbole. But that is what we face now.

Allowances have been frozen pending a review by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, into premium allowances, due for release by the end of this month. Allowances are not additional or extra pay for the same amount of work. They are pay for extra and addtional work completed, like yard duty, or the furthering of professional qualifications, which contribute to your expertise as a teacher. Others include Gaelscoil teaching and teaching on an Island. You can only benefit from one allowance at a time.

For student teachers, the incentive for acheiving an Honours Degree will be demolished if that allowance is sliced or destroyed. For new teachers, an incentive to acheive a Masters Degree, after investing finance into its completion, will be erased with the vanishing or cutting of that allowance.

All teachers' unions, including the INTO, are currently persuing the issue of allowances. Also the INTO has taken a legal case to the Equality Tribunal on the 10% pay cut to new entrants. These are clearly steps in the right direction, but NQTs and New Graduates will have to make their own voices heard where they are directly concerned, combined with and strengthing the above mentioned offical persuits.

There is no clear indication as to where the axe will fall, but there is no doubt that it will fall regarding allowances. We are faced with the unlikely situation where allowances for new beneficiaries would be paused or frozen, and returned untouched. The presumption is that something is going to happen, the axe is going to fall, and it is going to fall on NQTs and New Graduates. Due to the lack of clarity the suggestion that all teachers, new or experienced, will be hit is valid.

Clarity will come as mentioned at the end of February, but the main emphasis is what would be acceptable? Would a cut to all allowances be ok? Would a cut to new beneficiaries be ok? Is a cut at all ok? These are some questions that only each individual can form an opinion or answer on. Nonetheless, NQTs do need to be prepared to take action, and meaningful steps to protect pay and conditions.

Finally, to suggest that teachers have not taken cuts is disingenuous. Not to mention pension charges, the Universal Social Charge for example, and the non-fall of the cost of living, all teachers have seen fortnightly bottom line figures fall. NQTs and New graduates have already taken a pay cut of 10%. How much is enough? Is this not complying with any pay agreement of reform arrangement, and if not, what will the total cost of 'complying' be?

CEPP Consultation: Probation and Increased School Involvement

CEPP (Career Entry Professional Programme) is a consulation document and proposal for probation out at the moment. The closing date for submissions is 30th March 2012.

Click here to read the document, and visit the Teaching Council Website to make a submission. The  new proposed arrangements for probation see the Inspectorate's role minimized, with increased school involvement.

Principals and a nominated staff member mentor would conduct 8 observations in total, culminating in a decision being made on the probationary teacher's suitability for full registration with the Council (which is compulsory). The Inspectorate would only be involved on an occasion where a disagreement of the judgement occurs between teacher,mentor and principal, as all three stake holders contribute to the final and interim reports.

Is there an inherint clash of roles for teacher,principal and mentor? While school based support is certainly a welcome a positive, should evaluation and assessment not be carried out by an objective individual (inspector)? These are some of the questions and issues that each individual can come to a conclusion on.

The INTO are holding Consultative Meetings regarding the proposed arrangments. Click here to view dates that may suit you with venues and times.
It is vitally important that an NQT voice is heard, as we will be,currently are, or recently have been through probation.