Retirees working part-time costing €1,000 a week extra [IrishTimes]
- Published: 29 April 2011
ASSOCIATION OF SECONDARY TEACHERS IRELAND: RETIRED teachers hired to do part-time work in schools are costing taxpayers up to €1,000 per week, secondary school teachers were told at their annual conference yesterday.
Bernard Moynihan, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) industrial relations officer, said this was the estimated additional cost of taking on a retired teacher – compared with that involved in hiring a new entrant to the profession. The differential is that between the new, reduced entry level pay rate and the rate for a retired teacher at the top of the increment scale.
There has been growing controversy about the decision by many school principals to rely on retired teachers to fill part-time vacancies despite the jobs crisis among newly qualified teachers and the huge availability of part-time teachers. More than 25 per cent of all members of the union are part-time or temporary teachers.
More than 1,000 retired teachers worked in primary and second-level schools last year, according to the most recent estimates. Mr Moynihan said it was very difficult to understand how school management cannot secure substitute teachers from the large pool available.
He also warned the Government the union was ready to take legal action under the Unfair Dismissals Act if any attempt was made to replace teachers on their second, third or fourth non-permanent contracts. In their first contract year, teachers do not enjoy the protection of the Act.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
