ASTI will not be given a 30% rise for nothing

There was a mood of euphoria when senior members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) gathered to review the week's events on Thursday night. The big day of strike action was seen as an unqualified success.

In the various meeting rooms of the ASTI building in the shadow of Christchurch Cathedral, there was no shortage of decent anecdotes about how the day had gone. One teacher told how a local publican had provided hot whiskies and salad rolls for the pickets. Another recalled how many parents hooted their horns in support, as they drove past the pickets at the school gates.

There was a mood of celebration and relief. ASTI members, exasperated by low levels of disposable income and a steep decline in their social status, were teaching those lads in Government a hard lesson.

As the meeting broke up, ASTI's general secretary was being interviewed on Prime Time by Vincent Browne. It was what one might call a robust encounter. Browne wanted to know what the ASTI was giving in return for the 30 per cent increase it was seeking this year and the further 20 per cent it expected over the course of the next two years.

Charlie Lennon gave as good as he got. But when pressed about the long holidays, the short days and the lack of accountability, he said that all issues were up for negotiation. It was a clear signal that the ground has already began to shift in this dispute. Some ASTI members may have gone into this dispute thinking it would get 30 per cent without giving anything in return. But, by this weekend, some secondary teachers are beginning to grasp a simple truth: there is no such thing as a free lunch.

For the moment, few secondary teachers are considering how the dispute might eventually be resolved. Instead, they are savouring the warm afterglow left by Tuesday's day of action. While there has been plenty of sniping in the media about teachers, there has also been a fair level of public and media support. To the great delight of secondary teachers, Eamon Dunphy on The Last Word has been a powerful champion of their case.

Secondary teachers are accustomed being unloved. The classroom, for each individual teacher, can be a lonely place where one receives little affirmation. Most secondary teachers appear buoyed up by the tide of public opinion flowing their way. These are early days in the ASTI dispute, and this support could drain away quickly. But this weekend secondary teachers are, suddenly, feeling better about themselves - and about their place in this society.

ASTI can also claim, with some justification, it is setting the agenda on teachers' pay. Under pressure from their own members, the two other teaching unions - the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) have been forced on to the offensive. Unlike ASTI, both the TUI and the INTO are working their pay claim through the partnership process. But there are increasing signs that the patience of both unions with the Government is beginning to wear thin.

On Wednesday, the TUI demanded an increase of up to 40 per cent for its members. On Morning Ireland yesterday, Senator Joe O'Toole issued another ultimatum: the INTO would walk away from the national pay deal - the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness unless the Government delivered substantial pay concessions.

The Government, it appears, is poised to cut some kind of deal with the TUI and the INTO which will allow them remain inside the partnership fold. This week, the PPF has been effectively rewritten. Michael Woods has hinted that the timetable for the new pay review forum - known as the benchmarking body - could be fast-tracked from June 2002 to next June or early 2001.

The review, which could reward teachers for both past and future changes in productivity, could deliver substantially more money for teachers. There is also the first hint that the Government will consider some kind of down payment for teachers - even before the benchmarking body has completed its work.

The INTO and the TUI are now looking at a possible scenario where their members will receive the following:

Over 19 per cent over three years as part of the new pay agreement, the PPF.

Substantial increases in take-home pay as a result of tax changes in next month's Budget.

A down payment of about five per cent, possibly early next year as the work of the benchmarking review gets under way.

Other productivity increases when the benchmarking review body reports next year or in 2001.

Which brings us back to the ASTI. The union insists it wants to enter meaningful negotiations but it will probably stay away from next Monday's inaugural meeting between the public service unions and the benchmarking body. Earlier this year, the union walked out of the negotiations on the PPF and left the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

For the moment, it is keeping its distance from the cosy world of partnership and consensus. It is the unruly schoolkid brazenly defying the big wheels in Congress and in Government.

But sooner or later the ASTI will have to return to the negotiating table. And the PPF, for now at least, remains the only game in town.

The next phase of the union's industrial action begins next Wednesday and Thursday. Students will again have to remain at home, parents will again be forced to make alternative arrangements as supervisory cover is withdrawn. ASTI members will withdraw supervision for three more days on the following week, before ending this phase of their protest with a further national one-day strike on December 5th.

Barring some inspired intervention by the Government or a major concession by the ASTI, it seems the dispute will rumble on until early December - if not longer. Everything will probably depend on what happens when the ASTI executive reviews the whole strike campaign around December 8th.

The union will face some difficult choices. Any escalation of the dispute which involves further disruption of Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate students risks alienating public opinion.

But the only other available alternative may be to return to the partnership fold and negotiate the best deal it can in the benchmarking review. ASTI members will certainly emerge from this process with more money - but only if it is prepared to embrace some of the disciplines common in the private sector, such as more accountability and longer hours.

The ASTI and the 16,000 secondary teachers it represents are entitled to feel well pleased with themselves this weekend. But the honeymoon period of its industrial dispute may be about to end.