Teachers secure significant increase in starting salary following government negotiations

New teachers will now be entitled to the salary rates that existed before 2012.

New teachers in Ireland will earn a starting salary of €31,805 per annum following negotiations between teachers’ unions and the Ministers for Education and Public Expenditure, Richard Bruton and Paschal Donohue. As a result of the negotiations, teachers who are members of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and the Teaching Union of Ireland (TUI) will benefit from the restoration of salary arrangements that existed before 2012. The measures do not apply to members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI), who rejected the Lansdowne Road Agreement. TUI and INTO members will also benefit from a 15% increase in the starting salary of teachers between 31 August 2016 and 1 January 2018. Come January 2018, new teachers can expect to start on a salary of €35,602 per annum. Since February 2012, the starting salary for new teachers has been €28,100. The TUI says that the introduction of these new measures represent “a very significant step in the right direction in addressing the pay inequality suffered by teachers recruited since 1 February 2012” and say that they “will continue its campaign until full pay equality is achieved”. As well as salary arrangements, a reduction in the qualification period for permanency for teachers to two years was negotiated, while it was also agreed that any newly available hours must be offered to teachers on part-time hours in the first instance. The TUI say that this is significant, as they estimate that half of teachers under 35 are on contracts of less than full hours. The INTO, meanwhile, estimate that the salary increase will Increase will vary depending on the scale point and will average out at around €1200 in a teacher’s early career and almost €3,000 per point across the pay scale. In terms of career earnings, over 40 years, the changes will increase the projected career earnings for a post-February 2012 entrant by over €100,000 compared to at present.