The main secondary teachers' union has hinted it is ready to accept a phased payment of its 30 per cent claim. However, it also wants the Labour Court to recommend an immediate cash payment because of the "intensity and longevity" of its dispute with the Government.
ASTI, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, makes the demands in its confidential submission to the Lab our Court, which will hear its case on Friday. The submission, seen by The Irish Times, claims the pay of many teachers is now lagging up to 40 per cent behind most other graduates.
It cites independent evidence from Deloitte and Touche which shows middle managers in the private sector typically earning between 31 and 41 per cent more than teachers with 15 years' experience.
The ASTI says the recent Government decision to implement special pay increases proposed by the Buckley report - to attract high-calibre entrants to the public service - "supports one of the central arguments for the ASTI pay claim". It says there has been a 23 per cent decline in the demand for the Higher Diploma in Education in the past two years.
"An acceptable formula which might lead to a resolution of the dispute requires an immediate payment to recognise the intensity and longevity of the dispute. Some of the issues raised may be addressed on a phased basis, but a response in terms of an award in the short term is necessary to improve the relative pay position of teachers and to assuage the anger of ASTI members and persuade them to suspend the campaign."
The Labour Court recommendation is expected to be considered by the union early next month. The ASTI has signalled it will renew its action and implement a ban on the Leaving and Junior Cert exams if it is not satisfied with the proposals.
In its Labour Court submission, the ASTI bases its demand for 30 per cent on a range of factors including:
Compensation for increases in the cost of living and provision of a means for teachers to share in the benefits of economic prosperity;
Recognition in the pay levels of teachers of their contribution to the development of the second-level education service and their productivity and flexibility over the past decade;
Recognition that by comparison with other graduate entry employments, teachers' pay is depressed and requires significant upward adjustment.
The Government has opposed the ASTI demand because it opted out of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The other teaching unions, the INTO and the TUI, are using the benchmarking pay review body of the PPF to press their cases for an increase of up to 40 per cent. The ASTI says benchmarking does not provide a means "through which the unique activity of teaching can be adequately rewarded".
Benchmarking models in which public and private sector pay are compared "cannot do justice to the work of a teacher".
The ASTI says its members have suffered considerable financial loss as a result of the dispute and have been subjected to "severe public criticism by politicians and media commentators". It accuses the Government of dealing with its claim in a provocative manner.