Croke Park 2 has caused a lot of discussion in the teaching community. The INTO, which represents Irish primary teachers have been hosting a number of meetings both face-to-face and online through their Facebook page, dialoging with their members. However, the INTO, at this time of writing have not issued members a recommendation of whether to vote for or against their negotiations with the Department of Education. (You can download the INTO’s Eolas leaflet here.)

Rather than give my own opinion on the matter, I asked teachers in my PLN (Personal Learning Network) to give their opinions on whether they would be voting for or against the ballot. With the promise of anonymity, I found people on either side to give a brief summary on why they’re voting, yes or no. I’d be delighted if you added comments to this article to keep the debate going.

Yes The INTO had three options – walk out, accept the government‘s initial cuts or compromise. I don’t think the first two are an option because the result will be the same – a 7.5% pay cut across the board. While nobody likes cuts, I think this is the best deal we could get. NQTs are now in the position they should be in and we just got a delay on our increments. I don’t think we were ever going to hold on to our yard supervision for long anyway. Also, very few teachers earn more than €65,000 anyway so those bigger pay cuts shouldn’t affect most of us. The one thing no one can afford is to go on strike so I really hope we vote this in.

No  Croke Park was meant to last till 2014.We are being asked to vote on a deal that does not treat all members fairly.The so called high earners who in most cases – not all – are Principals,Deputy Principals or post holders are being singled out for savage cuts to core pay.This is unfair and divisive. 25% of INTO members have core pay cut and 75% don’t. No union should allow this. As for Job Bridges into the future….it should not be considered.The document states that all allowances are next in line. I’ve been a teaching Principal for 26 years. I’ve seen pay increases, pay pauses, pay deferrals but core pay cut is a new experience. Young Teachers are not doing well either. They have lower start off pay, no supervision, later retirement, loss of increments longer hours etc. It’s a bad deal for all and must be rejected.

Two differing opinions here…What do you think?

Irish members PLN time Twitter voting writing