The prospect of school closures receded last night with speculation that the Department of Education may be flexible on some elements of its £27 an hour offer on supervision/substitution.
The Department met the three teacher unions on the issue last night and while no concessions were made, teachers are hoping the Government might make the offer pensionable following further negotiations.
The TUI has already rejected the £27 offer, while the ASTI has voted to withdraw from supervision/substitution entirely. The INTO begins its ballot on Monday.
The Department is not expected to make any move in the short term, but privately teacher unions have been given indications that the pension issue may be open to negotiation in the medium term.
The general secretary of the INTO, Mr Joe O'Toole, said his union was determined to see the offer made pensionable. "It is an immediate objective for us," he said.
The ASTI's standing committee meets today to discuss the suggestion that a concession is on the way and to review the results of a survey of members on the way forward in pursuit of its 30 per cent pay claim.
It had planned to issue a directive next week telling members to withdraw from supervision work, but this may be delayed because of the speculation and the results of the survey.
They will be announced this morning, with many in the union expecting members to vote in favour of moderate action like boycotting Department of Education activities, rather than backing full scale industrial action.
A sizeable number of ASTI members are anxious to separate the supervision issue from their 30 per cent pay claim. The standing committee is likely to be told it is not advisable to disrupt classes over supervision which is regarded by many teachers as a side issue.
The issue of standing committee member, Mr Bernard Lynch, who has been in the High Court this week is also occupying the union. He will be attending today's meeting and some union members are collecting money on his behalf to defray his legal costs.
While the signs were more hopeful last night of resolving the supervision issue, many problems remain.
One of these is that if the Government makes the £27 an hour pensionable, other public sector unions could object, seeing it as a general pay increase, rather than payment for work unique to teachers.