TEACHERS WHO START teaching from today will receive an increased starting salary.
However, only those in the TUI and INTO unions will be eligible to receive the new pay scale because the ASTI has not yet signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
The news comes today after an agreement was reached between the unions and Ministers for Education and Public Expenditure Richard Bruton and Paschal Donohoe.
The agreement will result in increases of up to €2,000 per year for new teachers at the start of their careers.
This follows on from the recent restoration of €796 per year for every teacher covered by the Lansdowne Road Agreement in respect of substitution and supervision payments.
The move will put teachers on a payscale where they will start on roughly €31,800.
A previous pay scale for teachers appointed before 2011 started at €31,213. For teachers appointed between 1 January 2011 and February 2012, the starting rate was €28,092.
From this month, teachers appointed before 1 January 2011′s first point on the pay scale will be €32,009. For teachers appointed between 1 January 2011 and February 2012, the first point will be €28,888.
Teachers appointed after 1 February 2012 will be paid €31,805.
The INTO says that the agreement was a “significant” one.
Sheila Nunan general secretary of the INTO said this was a priority issue for the union.
For the first time, teachers who began since 2012 will have the same earnings path as all other teachers and will reach the same maximum point of salary scale.
The implementation of the revised salary arrangement will be implemented in two phases on 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018.
By then, teachers should be starting on annual wages of €35,602.
All post-1 January 2011 and post-1 February 2012 new entrants to teaching will be assimilated onto a single new salary scale which will incorporate the honours primary degree allowance.
The TUI has said the measures announced today are the first steps to full pay equality.
It also noted that other moves in recent months have helped teachers who are low-hour contracts. They are now eligible for permanent roles once they have worked in a school for two years. This period was previously four.
Also, schools who have extra hours come available must offer them to those teachers who are on part-time schedules in the first instance.
It is thought that about 50% of secondary school teachers under the age of 35 are on contracts of less than full hours.
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