A nationwide teachers strike is underway with hundreds of schools closed around the country.
Members of the ASTI union have taken to the picket lines calling for equal pay for equal work.
Currently teachers hired after 2011 are earning less than colleagues hired before the downturn.
They say the pay gap is making them feel undervalued.
However, ASTI steward at the Presentation College in Carlow, Sinéad Egan told KCLR News this morning that she feels some parents and members of the public are confused about why they’re striking:
“We’re looking for a restoration of pay, we’re not looking for a pay increase. I think that’s something that a lot of people have misunderstood. I know it affects parents and school closures…It’s not only newly qualified teachers that are affected but also those who’ve qualified since 2011 so that means there are teachers on a lesser pay scale than their colleagues who are doing the same amount of work.”
