Most teachers left empty-handed

Education:With the exception of primary school principals and deputy principals, the benchmarking report has not recommended pay awards for most of the 85,000 working in the education sector.

Among 25 education sector grades, increases are recommended for three grades only.

No increases are recommended for primary teachers, post-primary teachers, assistant principals (primary), assistant principals (post primary) or other grades represented by teacher unions or for special needs assistants.

There is also no award recommended for teacher/lecturer grades in universities and in the Institutes of Technology. A 1 per cent increase is recommended for some technical staff at third level.

While widely anticipated, the zero pay award has provoked outrage and dismay among the main teacher unions, which made a joint submission to the benchmarking body.

The INTO said it was "dismayed and angry", while the ASTI signalled it will be taking a robust approach in the forthcoming pay negotiations.

The benchmarking process, famously likened to an ATM machine by Senator Joe O'Toole, delivered a 13 per cent increase for teachers in its first report in 2002. The recommendation came shortly after the bitter ASTI dispute that closed schools and led to bitter divisions between the teacher unions.

This time round, the only big winners are primary school principals and their deputies. While the benchmarking body did not always accept the case that their work is comparable to that of second-level principals, it did recognise that current pay levels do not reflect their workload and responsibility.

As a result of the benchmarking report, about 2,300 of the 3,000-plus principals will now enjoy parity with their counterparts at second level.

Allowances for primary principals will increase from 5.9 per cent to 31.5 per cent, weighted towards smaller schools.

The INTO says a typical principal in a six to seven-teacher school will earn an extra 2.4 per cent, bringing the salary to €76,700.

While acknowledging "significant progress on its claim for principal teachers", John Carr, the INTO general secretary, expressed dismay at the overall findings for primary teachers.

Mr Carr went on to criticise recent public pay policy decisions. "Large pay increases to the few at the top, coupled with wage restraint for those on modest salaries, will inevitably fuel a loss of confidence in public pay determination processes."

John White of the ASTI said teachers would be seeking pay increases in the next round to compensate for its "bitter disappointment" with the benchmarking process. The joint pay submission had clearly demonstrated, he said, how teachers' pay had fallen behind comparable professionals in the private sector.

The Teachers' Union of Ireland said it was dismayed by the findings. It also highlighted the disparity between the benchmarking report and recent pay awards flowing from the O'Brien report to management grades, politicians and others.

The Irish Federation of University Teachers said academics will simply not be able to understand why the body ignored the fact that a recent graduate in IT or accountancy "is already likely to be earning €10,000 to €15,000 more than the lecturers who taught them what they know".

Just a short time ago, the heads of universities were awarded increases of 19 to 30.6 per cent.