This lunchtime.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland has announced that its members will go on strike on Tuesday, February 4th.

This is days before the general election on February 8th.

In a statement, the TUI says:

The Union represents some 19,000 members in second level schools, colleges of further and adult education and Institutes of Technology/Technological Universities. In October, TUI members voted by a margin of 92% to 8% to engage in a campaign of industrial action, up to and including strike action, on this issue, and the Union announced in November that it would take strike action in February unless the matter was resolved. The union stated that while its campaign has resulted in progress, those teachers employed after 1st January 2011 will still earn some €110,000 less than longer-serving colleagues over the course of a career. Critically, they will earn over €50,000 less in the first ten years of their career when key life choices are made. Speaking today, TUI President Seamus Lahart said: ‘We have exhausted every avenue open to us to bring this matter to resolution and have been left with no choice but to take strike action over the ongoing scandal of pay discrimination.”

TUI members to take strike action on Tuesday, 4th February over failure to eliminate pay discrimination (TUI)