Tired of being a pawn in the game

The Government has the ASTI by the short and curlies now. The last card that the ASTI held over the Government was the threat of blocking State exams. Now, the most powerful, possibly the only, weapon in their arsenal is beginning to look counter-productive. Many teachers re-entered their workplaces last week with heavy hearts and somewhat lighter wallets.

The Government has done everything within its power to antagonise the ASTI and its members. The last straw was to dock wages for their days of working to rule. Many teachers may have made up the shortfall by moonlighting in grind schools, which reported record levels of demand for their grind courses during the Christmas recess.

It looks certain now that the ASTI will have to compromise - trying to block the Leaving and Junior Cert exams was their last, desperate tack. It was a great idea, from a union perspective. Faced with postponing the exams, the Government would have had to give in. Imagine the possible consequences - every student in the system could have faced an extra year in school. Not only that, but three or four years down the road, the private and public sectors may have been been looking at the nightmare scenario of a shortage of recruits - no graduates at all.

People like us - students working hard for the Leaving - are merely pawns in a game in which the ASTI and the Government are the only players

Morale among striking teachers is sure to be at an all-time low. For the middleaged teachers, the 30 per cent the union is demanding is looking more and more difficult to achieve. It was their nest egg - the villa in Spain versus the caravan in Brittas Bay. I can't imagine younger teachers being too pleased either; this was the chance to trade in the 10-year-old Nissan for something better. The only teachers who won't really be bothered either way are the elderly ones, which is just as well, because their experience allows them both to handle classes (keep them quiet and make sure they refrain from setting fire to both the furniture and other students) as well as educate them. The other group who won't be affected, obviously, are the "vocational" teachers. These are the ones who leap out of bed in the morning, relishing the interaction of another day of pedagogery. But, as in any profession, there aren't too many of them.

Things are looking bleak. The ASTI maximised the damage to pupils during their work-to-rule action, essentially ensuring that for three weeks the only things that students would be studying would be either the walls of their room, or various hangover cures. Many were, unfortunately, introduced to the joys of cheap, midweek beer offers in city centre college-student hang-outs. And now, this week we face a return not only to low teacher morale, but also to the next phase of strike action. People like us - students working hard for the Leaving - are merely pawns in a game in which the ASTI and the Government are the only players. Both are protecting their own interests. The Government is guarding the PPF. The ASTI is servicing its own members. That the teachers are greedy, we can only suppose after all, a majority of them must have voted for a strike action, even though opinion may have changed by now. For the Government, this is a show of muscle. They have faced down the nurses; the teachers are next. The message is clear: play ball with us and you won't get your fingers burnt - nor your pay packets docked. The greatest irony of all, and there are many inherent in this situation, is that the fate of students is being decided upon by representatives for whom we didn't vote: men in suits from the Department of Education and men in suits from the ASTI. Things are looking bleak.