THE Ulster Teachers' Union should consider joining the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, its general secretary has proposed.
In a paper on the structure of the union for the year 2000, Mr David Allen questioned whether it could any longer afford to divorce itself from the only organisation which appears to have any political clout and influence in this island.
"There would be many within the membership of UTU who would vehemently oppose such an affiliation, because they would consider such an association to be anti British.
"I consider myself to be as pro British as any teacher in this province and, to me, solidarity with colleagues on this island, with the same problems, with the same mutual interests, with the same aspirations and with the same ambitions for their pupils does not make me any less British."
Mr Allen recalled that it was Irish rather than British based unions which supported the UTU's resolution on the educational peace dividend in Northern Ireland at a recent international conference.
"As we approach, the millennium, maybe the time has come for the members of the Ulster Teachers Union to reappraise their teacher associations and maybe, just maybe, the members may come to the realisation that their friends are a little nearer home," he said.