The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) have now joined other public servants in launching industrial action. But it would be wrong to view this dispute as copy-cat action by another public sector group, concerned only about how inflation is eroding their living standards.
The ASTI campaign, in preparation for more than six months, is about more than pay. Secondary teachers may share the sense of unease about pay levels evident in Aer Lingus, the ESB and much of the public service. But their dispute taps into a deep sense of discontent.
The campaign is also driven by the frustration among teachers about the declining status of their job. That is why it may be a difficult dispute to resolve.
In the coming months, as schools close and/or exams face disruption, secondary teachers could be offered some of the 30 per cent pay increase they are seeking. But even this may not be enough to assuage the deep sense of grievance within the profession.
For many experienced teachers, the Republic's economic boom has come at a price: from a position 20 years ago where teaching was a prized, revered profession, it has now slipped down the status scale.
The fall-off in the number of applications for the main teaching qualification - the Higher Diploma in Education - reflects how teaching is losing its appeal, particularly for young male graduates. Many of these now prefer to pursue more lucrative options in the IT and other sectors. Secondary teachers earn about £9,000 a year less than other graduate professions, according to the OECD.
In practical terms, middle-aged teachers have now become accustomed to seeing former colleagues at university and/or pupils they have taught enjoying much better pay - and a range of other perks.
Ms Catherine Fitzpatrick, ASTI's vice-president, underlined this sense of grievance at yesterday's press conference. Present-day Irish society seems to be enjoying our new-found economic prosperity but teachers, she said, are not allowed to savour it as much as others do.
The concern among teachers about the shift in their economic and social status is right across the age spectrum. Older teachers complain how they have contributed to the economic boom - but have little in cash terms to show for it. Secondary teachers earn about £34,000 at the top of their scale - but it takes an average of 25 years to reach this.
For their part, many young teachers - the kind of people who could afford a good semidetached in the suburbs a decade ago - now find this virtually impossible on a starting salary (for a graduate with an honours degree) of about £20,000.
Mr John White, ASTI's deputy general secretary, offered a thought-provoking comment at yesterday's press briefing. The education service and the quality of teaching, he said, were the building blocks, of our current economic progress. "Irish society will now have to decide the value it places on teaching." The same sense of grievance evident in the ASTI is also apparent in the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI). But unlike the ASTI, they are not taking industrial action.
Both the INTO and TUI accepted the terms of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) which gives teachers about 19 per cent over three years. They also hope to gain significant salary increases from the so-called "benchmarking" process of the PPF, which pegs public sector pay to trends in the private sector.
The ASTI has chosen a different route. It walked out of negotiations on the PPF and left the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. In the coming weeks, it will be hoping to build public support for its case.
There is some support to build on. An Irish Times opinion poll in April indicated that a narrow majority supported the 30 per cent pay claim.
But, when the schools close and students are at home this winter, the ASTI will also have to convince the public that its strategy is right. It will be asked to explain why it is closing schools when the other teaching unions are content to pursue their pay claims through negotiation.