Teaching unions are expected to join forces with Gardaí and nurses to negotiate pay with the next Government.

They are looking for pay cuts imposed on all new entrants since 2011 to be reversed.

The three teachers unions are holding their annual congresses this week.

INTO General Secretary Sheila Nunan says the current system is inequitable:

"The cut to new entrance pay is a front to the core trade union principle of equal pay for equal work.

"Teachers unions, our colleagues in ASTI and TUI, this week are opposed to pay discrimination and we pledge that we will overturn it."

Tomás O’Reilly graduated in 2013 and is now a 4th class teacher in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.

He says he is directly affected.

"Over the course of my career I earned over €220,000 less that a person who qualified in 2010, so just three years before me.

"The government implemented cuts in 2011 and instead of people starting on .4 of the payscale they started on .1, but then again in 2012 they decided to create a completely new payscale that's completely different."