figures shatter myth of huge pay gaps
(01 Oct 2009)
Speaking today, Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) Deputy General Secretary Annette Dolan said:
“This report shatters the myth of huge pay gaps between the different sectors.
It shows that for permanent full-time employees between 25 and 49, the so called public sector premium is 12.6%. As this analysis dates from 2007, the differential would now be far less as public sector workers have since been hit with a pay cut in the form of the so called pension levy of an average of 7.5% of salary.
Certain quarters are perfectly happy to ignite a divisive and destructive debate between ordinary public and private sector workers to detract attention away from the developers, banking executives and politicians responsible for the current economic strife the nation finds itself in.
It is vital that all workers – irrespective of their sector or employer - support each other and remember exactly who caused the current problems.
Further unfair targeting of sections of the workforce cannot and will not be tolerated in the coming months. We need to embrace the better, fairer way set out by the ICTU last year and tackle our economic problems by way of an equitable progressive taxation system.
Also, there is often an assumption that all teachers are permanent and on full hours. This simply isn’t the case. TUI represents thousands of part-time teachers who are literally struggling to make ends meet as a result of cuts to their hours and the imposition of the pension levy. Such teachers - like many thousands of other workers in the country - cannot sustain further hardship.”