Acceptance of supervision deal marks a turning point for the union, writes Seán Flynn, Education Editor
The decision of ASTI members to defy their own leadership by a margin of 58 per cent to 42 per cent to again back the supervision deal in a re-ballot represents a turning point for the union.
When ASTI members voted on the €38 an hour supervision deal over the past week, they were handed a lengthy document.
This outlined, in some considerable detail, why members should reject the deal. In all, 15 separate flaws in the offer were outlined.
And the response from a majority of ASTI members to this instruction? In plain terms, they have told the hardliners in the union to take a running jump.
It was the hardline group within the union which sought a re-ballot, even after ASTI members voted to accept the supervision deal by a 60:40 margin late last year. They complained that teachers were not being paid for making themselves available for supervision work.
But, as yesterday's vote confirmed, the vast majority of teachers had grown tired of the complex dispute. Some had also grown tired of their union's increasing appetite for battle.
Yesterday's vote could represent a turning point for the union. It could mark the point where control of the union is taken back from a small number of hard-liners and given back to the grassroots.
A special ASTI convention, which takes place next month, could expedite this process. It will consider a demand from 3,500 grassroot members for a change from branch-based to school-based ballots.
The intention is to ensure that the voice of the ordinary teacher in the staffroom is heard. The hope is to give power back to the grassroots, instead of allowing the agenda to be controlled by the tiny minority of ASTI members who attend branch meetings.
It was this group which was largely responsible for ASTI's disastrous pay campaign and for its shambolic public relations over the past three years.
One senior ASTI figure said last night: "Those who pushed and cajoled and tried to force teachers to reject the supervision deal would be forced to resign if they were in another union. They are at odds with their own membership."
There was no sign of resignations last night. But the hardline faction was certainly on the back foot. "It is time to review where we are going; this whole three-year campaign may have run its course," acknowledged one.
Yesterday's result represents a victory for ASTI general-secretary Mr Charlie Lennon. As a paid official, he had no choice but to publicly oppose the supervision deal. But it has been clear on this and other issues that he was uncomfortable with the tactics of the hardline faction.
On the eve of last year's ASTI conference, he talked openly about a small group determined to foment trouble. On the eve of this year's conference, his stature as a calm and measured voice has been enhanced.
The other big winner is the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, who spent much of the past month addressing ASTI members at a series of public meetings on the supervision deal.
His unprecedented decision to speak directly to ASTI members was widely regarded as high-risk and dangerous. One of his close aides spoke about him "going into the lion's den".
He also incurred the wrath of the ASTI leadership which accused him of interference in the ballot.
But Mr Dempsey's strategy of speaking over the heads of ASTI leaders to individual teachers has proved to be a political masterstroke. Many of those who attended the meetings in hotels around the State were impressed by his courage and his sincerity.
They were also impressed by the details of the offer: It gives teachers a pensionable payment of €38 an hour for work they had done without payment until now.
But if there was carrot, there was also plenty of stick. Mr Dempsey let it be known in the clearest terms to teachers should they reject the supervision deal, he would press on with entirely new arrangements from next September.
His strategy - combined with grassroot unease about the militant tactics of the leadership - helped to carry the supervision vote.
Yesterday's result may mark the end of three terrible years for the ASTI.
The union has damaged itself, burned bridges with the wider trade union community and inflicted great collateral damage on the good name of the teaching profession.
A period of some painful soul-searching can be anticipated.