Teachers’ pay hearing

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 9

Teachers’ pay hearing

The long-standing payclaim of primary schoolteachers will be heard by the Government Service Tribunal, starting on February 22. A full w’eek has been set down for the hearing, during which the tribunal will hear evidence then make a decision in the form of a salary order. The decision will be binding on both the teachers and the Education Department. There is no right of appeal. For two years primary teachers have fought for pay relativity with secondary teachers, which they lost in

1980 when' secondary teachers were paid more because of recruitment and retention problems. Primary teachers want the same pay when qualifications and responsibility are the same. The Education Department has opposed the teachers’ attempts to regain relativity. Friction betw-een the department and the teachers led to strike threats by the teachers last year. Last November the tribunal decided that extra pay for secondary teachers to aid recruitment"and retention was no longer needed.

The president of the Educational Institute, Mr David Stewart, said that the department has obstructed negotiations since that interim decision. “That decision left the claim open to negotiate,” Mr Stewart said. “It could have been settled by Christmas, but the department stalled, so we had no choice but to go back to the tribunal.” Mr Stewart said that the institute had prepared a strong case for the teachers’ pay claim, and he was optimistic about the tribunal’s decision.