Press release
Minister Foley welcomes agreement on first use of Sectoral Bargaining Fund in the post-primary teaching sector
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Education Norma Foley today welcomed agreement on the use of the Building Momentum Sectoral Bargaining Fund to restore the value of an allowance previously withdrawn from new entrant post-primary teachers.
The Department of Education and the post-primary teacher unions (the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, ASTI and the Teacher’s Union of Ireland, TUI) have been engaging on the use of the fund. A circular has issued today on the first use of the fund in the post-primary teaching sector.
Sectoral bargaining is an element of the national pay agreement, Building Momentum, and provides for the establishment of a sectoral fund amounting to 1 per cent of basic pay, of which some or all may be used to resolve outstanding issues, with a payment date of 1 February 2022.
The unions have opted to use part of the fund for the restoration of the Professional Master of Education (PME)/Higher Diploma in Education Allowance (H. Dip in Ed) with effect from 1 February 2022. This allowance had been withdrawn from newly appointed teachers following the outcome of a public service wide review of allowances and premium payments in 2013.
The restoration will be implemented by increasing the new entrant salary scale for post-primary teachers to include the value of the Honours H.Dip in Education Allowance (€1,314) on each point of the scale. The increase will be backdated to 1 February 2022.
Minister Foley said:
“The current national pay agreement Building Momentum allowed for unions to have a say on how best to use the sectoral bargaining fund in terms of their members’ priorities. The outcome today to use that fund to resolve a long-standing policy objective of the unions indicates the success and potential of the process.”
Further circulars will issue outlining the agreed outcome on any remaining outstanding claims or awards or a general pay round increase, which will be dealt with under the provisions of the Sectoral Bargaining Fund.