The secondary teachers' union is seeking a five percent pay rise it says is needed to catch up with inflation.
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The Post Primary Teachers Association lodged its claim for the secondary teachers' collective agreement with the Education Ministry today.
The union said it had asked for a 4.1 percent catch-up pay rise, plus one percent for this year.
President of the union Angela Roberts said pay had lost ground against inflation in the past five years, and the PPTA wanted an increase that would help them catch up.
"Teachers have had a real pay cut in the last few years in that we've had little pay rises but they haven't kept up with inflation.
"So we want to catch up, a little over four percent, and then a keep up, a little over one percent just for the rest of this year."
Ms Roberts said the secondary teachers' collective agreement expires at the end of June.