People Get Ready

There was an air of giddy excitement in Jurys Hotel when the ASTI executive announced its intention of balloting members on strike action last week. A dozen or so teachers, all members of the executive, gathered at the back of the small room as the press conference got under way.

One of the reporters present struck a discordant note when he asked about the short days and long holidays enjoyed by teachers.

But otherwise things went smoothly for the top table. When Charlie Lennon, the ASTI's general secretary, said humorously that teachers deserved not alone 30 per cent but a full 60 per cent for their contribution to this society, there were hearty cheers from the teachers at the back of the room.

Far from dreading what could be a long, bitter and potentially damaging dispute, there was an overwhelming sense of relief in Jurys. The sparring with the Government over pay was over and the main event was about to begin. The ASTI was going to teach the Government a hard lesson.

The Solo Run

The ASTI may only be balloting its members on industrial action next week but preparations for strike action have been under way since March.

The union, once a byword for moderation and restraint, has been increasingly radicalised by a solid majority within its huge 180-member executive. This group pushed the ASTI out of the talks on the new national agreement and eventually forced the union to withdraw from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

For the militants within the union, there was little to show in crude cash terms for the ASTI's traditionally cosy relationship with the big wheels in government and the trade unions. The other two teaching unions signed up for the new pay deal, with its promise of 19 per cent over three years. However, by March, the ASTI had already cut itself loose. The union was on a solo run.

In June, a leading PR company, Walsh Public Relations, was retained by the association after several other companies were invited to tender. Last month, a slick TV advertising campaign with a £150,000 budget began on RTE, TV3 and TG4.

Its slogan, "Teachers teach more than you know", highlighted the various pressure-points bearing down on the modern teacher: the public's expectation that they should be motivators, counsellors, mentors and psychologists. The softening-up process for strike action had begun.

A Question of Status

No one is quite sure precisely when the ASTI settled on a pay claim for 30 per cent. Sometimes when you observe the deep-seated anger and frustration among some ASTI members you wonder if even 30 per cent will be enough to bind their wounds.

Some of the anger is understandable. More than most, teachers have suffered an appreciable drop in status as the economy has boomed. One teacher recalls how a decade ago when he attended a parent/teacher meeting he was a figure of great standing and unrivalled authority, a pillar of the community.

"Today, parents are much less deferential towards teachers. They may have very similar educational qualifications - and they will probably earn considerably more. The whole relationship has changed," he says.

There are still, happily, hundreds of young graduates who want to be teachers. But there is also increasing evidence of young male graduates turning their backs on the profession. The numbers applying for the H.Dip last year dipped by some 400.

Some teachers in their early 50s can recall how proud their parents were when they entered the profession. Today, some of the same teachers would prefer their own children to choose a more lucrative profession. At the ASTI conference earlier this year, there was a great deal of envious talk about the young whiz-kids in IT and the like who earn 60 or 70k plus shares and travel and expenses.

Not so long ago, many of them were being taught by ASTI members.

By comparison with this group, the average teacher earns £29,000 at the top of his/her scale, after no fewer than 25 increments. He/ she will also gain £890 for a pass degree and £286 for a pass H.Dip. When teachers complete in-service training in information technology or curriculum changes, they are given a lunch allowance of £8.50.

ASTI's difficult wicket

It is just as well the ASTI has a formidable public relations team poised and ready for action. "I can scarcely think of a union launching industrial action on a more difficult wicket," says one experienced observer.

The ASTI goes into this dispute with some formidable difficulties to overcome. Firstly, there is the not insignificant matter of how an independent body, the Public Service Arbitration Board, recently rejected its 30 per cent claim in a ruling that left little room for argument.

The board advised the union to accept the terms of the national agreement and make its case for more at a benchmarking review. Essentially, this benchmarking review, chaired by a High Court judge, compares public and private sector pay; it opens the door for teachers to be rewarded for embracing change. There is one fly in the ointment: the benchmarking review body is not due to report until the end of 2002. The other teaching unions, the INTO and the TUI, have already accepted the prescription advised by the board: the 19 per cent on offer from the national agreement plus the promise of more from the benchmarking body.

Which brings us to the second difficulty for the ASTI: if its case is so strong, how come the other teaching unions, representing some 35,000 teachers, are not taking industrial action?

It is a question that you can expect to hear a thousand times on TV and radio once the schools begin to close.

What price teaching?

Secondary teachers do not choose their working hours. Many work into the night correcting homework. Others use their own cars and petrol to drive kids to football, drama or whatever.

On the basis of April's Irish Times poll, the public appreciates teachers: almost 70 per cent expressed general satisfaction with the education system. A narrow majority supported the ASTI's pay claim. But the public mood could change when the school gates are shut and, more especially, if exams are disrupted.

As it is, the ASTI is vulnerable to the charge that its members are not subject to adequate levels of public scrutiny. No Department of Education inspector can enter a classroom without the express permission of the class teacher. When this reporter asked one teacher what one had to do to merit an inspection at second-level, he smiled and said: "You have to be very unlucky."

The vast majority of teachers may be conscientious and hard-working, but there are virtually no workable sanctions for the few who refuse to pull their weight. Only two teachers were dismissed from the teaching service last year. The concept of performance-related pay, now so common in the private sector, has still to enter the staffroom. But can you measure performance in the classroom in the same way as in the office or the on the factory floor?

For all that, secondary teachers are offering no changes in productivity in return for the 30 per cent. The problem for the ASTI is that the public may turn around and support better pay for teachers - but only in return for the kind of working conditions and practices which other workers take for granted.

Divide and Conquer?

The Government has still to respond in any serious way to the ASTI dispute. It is likely to remain aloof. The Government can pursue what one source calls a policy of "divide and conquer". The most likely scenario is this: the Government will give some additional comfort to the other two teaching unions and put the squeeze on the ASTI.

It is easy to see how the Government could push this strategy. Like other public service workers, members of the INTO and the TUI will probably gain extra tax cuts or other concessions from the current review of the national agreement. It is virtually certain that the benchmarking process will also be fast-tracked to ease concerns over inflation.

All of this will present difficult choices for the ASTI. Does it hold out for the 30 per cent when very significant pay increases for teachers may emerge from benchmarking, sooner rather than later.

And how will it respond if the current review of the national agreement produces tax and other concessions over and above the 19 per cent already on the table?

There was little discussion of these awkward questions in Jurys last week. But there is no turning back - the vast majority of members are expected to vote for strike action next week.

It may be that the ASTI will get lucky. The government could dig in and give no more to the other teaching unions in the current review of the national agreement. In this event, the ASTI's solo run would be over; there would be a united front by all three teaching unions on pay. An election in the spring of next year could also change things, making the Government more anxious to cut a deal.

The most likely scenario, however, is that we will see a bruising battle. The ASTI can expect to come under sustained attack from the Government. It will also come under intense scrutiny from the media and the public. Teachers, said one experienced trade unionist this week, "had better fasten their safety belts".