Recriminations over the ASTI's pay campaign deepened last night when a former president of the union castigated hardline elements for their tactics and strategy.
Mr Pierce Purcell said the proposed ban on supervision - due to begin on Monday - was not supported by the majority of teachers. In a reference to union hardliners he said: "We must return to mainstream trade union activity."
He also warned that the union is poised to suffer another "own goal" on supervision, only months after a disastrous pay campaign. The union should rescind its ban immediately, he said.
Mr Purcell, who is a trustee of the Association of Secondary Teachers (Ireland), has circulated a letter to members of its executive and its standing committee.
His comments come amid further indications from school managers that most secondary schools will open as normal from Monday, when the ASTI ban on supervision and substitution is due to begin.
Mr Purcell is competing against another former ASTI president, Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan, in the NUI Seanad election.
In his letter, he calls on the ASTI central executive committee, which meets in Limerick on Friday, to rescind the ban on supervision.
In a move likely to infuriate union hardliners he has tabled other proposals including:
Reaffiliating the ASTI to the ICTU.
Authorising ASTI negotiators to send the ASTI Labour Court submission to the benchmarking body.
Seeking an oral presentation of the ASTI 30 per cent pay claim at the benchmarking body.
Mr Purcell said the directive which bans supervision is an "unnecessary distraction" at a time when the union should be directing its energies towards its pay campaign.
"Many of our members are unhappy with this directive. It is clear from the recent survey that our members overwhelmingly favour action that will not disrupt the schools. Many members have contacted me in the past few days, expressing their irritation with this directive," he writes.
On pay, he said the union "must now ask what steps have we taken to process our 30 per cent claim since the beginning of the current school year. At the present moment, secondary teachers' salaries are being negotiated by the INTO and TUI in benchmarking, whether we like it or not."
He continued: "It is quite ridiculous that we, as the major second-level teachers' union, are not in there, presenting our irrefutable case for a big pay increase."
Mr Purcell also complained that a members' survey indicating 74 per cent of members favoured co-operation with benchmarking had been ignored by the union executive.