Analysis:The call by ASTI delegates for the national pay deal to be renegotiated may come to be seen as an academic exercise, writes John Downes
Tuesday's call by ASTI members for a renegotiation of the Towards 2016 partnership deal might have made for good headlines, but what impact it will have remains to be seen.
On the face of it, the motion put forward by delegates is relatively straightforward. It calls on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) to renegotiate the pay terms of the agreement "owing to the significant increase in the cost of living experienced by all workers subsequent to the adoption of Towards 2016 in September 2006".
Under the terms of this pay deal, teachers and others receive a 10 per cent pay increase in four phases over 27 months, with the last payment due in September 2008.
But teachers are adamant that these pay rises will not keep pace with the cost of living if current levels of inflation continue.
ASTI general secretary John White yesterday expressed his belief that the concerns outlined in the motion passed by delegates were "widely shared" across the trade union movement.
Others addressing Tuesday's debate on the motion suggested that the union should proactively seek to get others involved by encouraging them to pass similar motions.
There was a clear rationale behind all this.
As a union affiliated to Ictu, having voted to re-enter Congress last year, without support from other unions the ASTI is limited in what it can achieve within this structure.
In fact, 82 per cent of ASTI members voted to reject Towards 2016. Yet, as a member of Ictu, the union accepted the will of the wider trade union movement in signing up to the deal.
Given their previous vote to reject the overall deal, it is perhaps not surprising that ASTI members have sought to criticise the pay element of the agreement.
What is surprising, however, is the sheer strength of support among delegates for the move, something which is best evidenced by the fact that the motion referring to Towards 2016 was put on the agenda as an "emergency" motion.
In this context, much depends on whether the ASTI can oversee the orchestration of a "groundswell" of support within Ictu for its call for renegotiation.
A key factor here would be the participation of not only those other unions, such as the TUI, whose members also voted against "Towards 2016", but crucially the larger unions such as Siptu and Impact.
But although one well-placed source acknowledged that an inflation rate of 5 per cent would start to make people "nervous", such a move by the larger unions is seen as unlikely at this stage. However, if inflation goes to 6 per cent or more, this could well change.
As matters currently stand, Tuesday's ASTI motion, while serving to highlight concerns about the impact of inflation, runs the risk of being a fairly academic exercise.
This is all the more true given that negotiations on the next pay element of Towards 2016 - to cover the period after the 27 months of the current deal - are expected to begin in late autumn.
Indeed, a more likely approach at this stage could be for Ictu to seek to "recoup" any losses due to inflation in this next deal rather than seek - as the ASTI motion urges - to reopen the current pay deal.