ICTU leaders like Des Geraghty `believe the PPF is the only show in town'.

The ASTI took a democratic decision to leave ICTU and not to take part in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). The reason we were forced into this position was the fact that we were promised by the Government during the various social partnership deals that if we tightened our belts during the recession we would, like everybody else, get the benefits when the economy improved.

We, as good trade unionists, did the patriotic thing; that is to say, we did tighten our belts during less prosperous times and what were we offered at a time of unprecedented economic prosperity? A PPF that does not even cover the current rate of inflation. Indeed, Phase I of the agreement had to be re-negotiated to cover the increase in inflation.

In actual fact, what the trade union leaders did in the PPF was to negotiate a real decrease in wages for workers they represented. We must also take into account that the price of houses is not factored in to the CPI. That was the main reason why the ASTI did not take part in the PPF. It gave no real increase in wages.

In 1995, second-level school teacher's average weekly earnings were 92 per cent that of a Garda; in 1999 this average had gone down to 86 per cent. In 1995, a second-level schoolteacher's average weekly wage earnings were 86 per cent that of a prison officer; in 1999 this average had gone down to 73 per cent. The recent Buckley report granted pay increases ranging from 18.7 per cent to 33.3 per cent to higher civil servants and politicians. Buckley was an old fashioned pay increase, granted by this Government in addition to the PPF.

After the ASTI left ICTU and decided to look for a 30 per cent pay claim, the whole apparatus of the State turned against it, including the media. To the world at large, secondary schoolteachers were seen as bullies, subversives and even terrorists. We are so little deserving of respect that our employer can dock our salaries illegally while we are trying to negotiate with him in good faith and not a single media voice, or indeed trade union voice, is raised in support.

From the politician to the pundit to the parent, the outpouring of verbal vitriol has been as unanimous as it has been incessant. It's as if open season has been declared on second-level schoolteachers.

The most disturbing aspect of the ASTI campaign has been the attitude of ICTU and the other trade unions. Indeed, when I was on a picket line on one of the strike days, outside Dail Eireann, a member of the Oireachtas said to me, "Your problem is not with us, it is with ICTU, especially Des Geraghty and Joe O'Toole who see themselves as the architects of the PPF and dare anybody criticise it." ICTU is like a new hierarchy - its leaders declare no salvation outside ICTU and the PPF as the only show in town.

The standing committee of the ASTI met the executives of the TUI and the INTO on January 19th. I, as a member of the ASTI, asked for support for our pay claim from our sister unions - the silence was deafening.

Kieran Allen in his book The Celtic Tiger states that "the divergence of interests between the union officialdom and their rank and file is reflected in a more privileged lifestyle. Local union officials demand their salaries are on a par with the managers they associate with. Top officials compare themselves to higher executives or senior civil servants, with the three highest positions in SIPTU earning over £70,000 a year. On top of that, officials are entitled to generous expense accounts and a car. . . Increasingly the union hierarchy uses its accumulated resources as a form of patronage, to undermine militancy. The prospect of a full- or even part-time union position, for example is held up as a reward for those who accept the line of head office."

Tax rates of capital have been cut and the wealthy have taken advantage of numerous State subsidies to increase their wealth. Yet at the same time, wage increases have been pegged down, despite the unprecedented boom. Between 1990 and 1997 industrial profits have increased by 144 per cent while wages have grown by 59 per cent. Statistics show that the average profit growth for every year between 1990 and 1998 was 50 per cent above the rate of growth of wages.

There is no doubt that Ireland is a wealthy country by international standards - ASTI members feel that they have contributed to the production of this wealth and all they looked for was a fair share of it. The ASTI like any other trade union has a constitutional and democratic right to leave ICTU and to pursue its pay claim independently - after all the ASTI's pay claim is the same as the recent rise that Senator Joe O'Toole was granted under the Buckley report.

Recent events in Ireland clearly show that we are now living in an economy rather that a community. There is something seriously wrong in a state when nurses and teachers have to take strike action at a time when the country is "awash with money" in order to get their fair share of the national cake.

Pat Cahill is a Memeber of ASTI's Standing Committee Region 13

ASTI's pay claim is the same as the recent rise that Senator Joe O'Toole was granted under the Buckley report