After spending the week threatening the Government with industrial action, secondary teachers discovered yesterday their own union representatives had beaten them to it.
Approximately 23 head-office staff of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), including the general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, decided to go on a work-to-rule and were only performing tasks strictly included in their contracts. The reason given was because of unfair attacks on them by certain elected members of the union.
The salaried head-office staff found themselves in dispute with the elected members because of an incident during the private session of the conference in Killarney on Thursday when one of their number was subjected to what the full-time officials describe as "a slanderous attack" by a delegate.
According to sources the full-time officials were unhappy that the president of the union, Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan, did not intervene to stop the delegate making the allegations. However, Ms O'Sullivan later apologised and said yesterday she had full confidence in the official criticised.
Their decision to go on a work-to-rule represented a disappointing end to the week when the ASTI was meant to hang together and show a united face as it came under the media spotlight.
It followed a week of impassioned speeches by the ordinary delegates calling for unity. Most of them said a united front was the only way the Government would take their 30 per cent pay claim seriously. As one delegate said: "we must stop all this internal codology and spin doctoring, no more nonsense".
But the attempt to put on a brave face failed because behind the platform the widespread perception all week was that the leadership had effectively split into two factions, one led by Ms O'Sullivan and the other by Mr Lennon.
While neither side has wanted to shout from the rooftops about the faction fighting, even newspaper photographs of the president and general secretary illustrated the brooding atmosphere between them.
It must be embarrassing for the union to have so much public bickering at a time when a major public relations campaign should be taking place in favour of their pay claim.
A poll in The Irish Times on Tuesday showed that almost half the public support their 30 pay claim. But this good will could dry up if the ASTI is seen as a fractious union not focused on an overall strategy.
The differences between the two leading figures in the union relate to style and substance. In terms of substance Ms O'Sullivan is pushing the 30 per cent pay claim using tactics not favoured by many of the full-time officials.
The full-time staff want to get their members a 30 per cent rise, too, but would like a more consensual approach, and some of them want to use the new benchmarking body set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF).
While there are more than two people involved, there is no doubt that for the last year the competing styles of Ms O'Sullivan and Mr Lennon have dominated events at the ASTI's headquarters in Winetavern Street in Dublin.
Sources in the union claim much of their communication is through writing, and in Killarney this week, apart from the public sessions, they were never seen in each other's company.
In terms of style, Mr Lennon and Ms O'Sullivan could not be more different. Mr Lennon speaks in mellifluous tones and favours working the system behind the scenes, building on relationships established over many years. His speech to the conference this week involved no thumping fists and was almost languid in tone.
He has an warm relationship with other leading trade union officials such as Mr Peter Cassells and has been deeply uncomfortable with some of the strategy adopted in recent months.
Ms O'Sullivan on the other hand frequently thumped the rostrum during her presidential address. Many members like such passionate displays, and she appeals to the deep reservoir of frustration among teachers. She likes to be upfront in her tactics.
She is zealous and utterly unapologetic about what she regards as a crusade to restore teaching to the top of the social status ladder.
Yesterday she said the deterioration in the relationship between the elected leadership and the full-time officials could be solved. A more significant development was the decision of other teacher unions to alter their position on the pay issue.
She said the decision of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) to order its executive to obtain a higher payment under the "early settlers" part of the national deal was highly significant. A motion which called on the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) to enter dialogue with the ASTI on the pay issue was also significant, she said.