The next phase of the campaign of industrial action by secondary teachers begins this week. A series of rolling one-day strikes starts in Dublin tomorrow. The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) is threatening to close schools for nine days this term. A further nine days were lost before Christmas. ASTI also plans to ban exam work from early next month. It is an appalling scenario for students, especially those facing critical Leaving Certificate exams this summer.
To make matters worse, it is now clear the leadership of ASTI wants to pull back from more industrial action. The union's general secretary, its president and its vice-president all backed the compromise offer tabled by Mr Tom Pomphrett of the Labour Relations Committee, which would have revived peace talks in the dispute. But the union's executive is holding out until the money docked from teachers for their work-to-rule action is returned - without preconditions.
The Government must accept some of the blame. Its decision to dock teachers' pay infuriated even the more moderate members of the profession. As a result, schools will close this week because of the docking issue, even though all sides accept this is no more than a side-show. The challenge facing both sides is to resolve this issue and move on. It will not be easy. The ASTI wants a full refund with no strings attached. The Government will not accept it was wrong to deduct the money in the first place. Mr Pomphrett will this week continue his efforts to work out some kind of compromise. It is not an easy task. With the ASTI riven by a bitter, internal dispute, he will be slow to table any new formula, until he is certain the union will accept it.
ASTI itself needs to do some soul-searching. Public support is melting away. Great damage has been done to the status of the union. Students and their parents are unsettled and worried. Critically, the ASTI has failed to win the support of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI). In another setback, the TUI last week cancelled a special congress on pay. Some in the ASTI had hoped to form a grand alliance with the TUI after this conference. Now, that prospect has disappeared. The Government's clumsy handling of the docking issue has given the ASTI hard-liners a lifeline. But it is no more than a temporary reprieve.
Eventually, the ASTI is going to have to climb out of the trenches. It will have to stop rejecting every option and develop a coherent exit strategy. As it is, a good case is being undermined by poor tactics. The Government is ready to deliver for the INTO and the TUI in the benchmarking pay review. The TUI believes it can secure a pay increase of at least 20 per cent. Senator Joe O'Toole of the INTO is equally confident. The door is open for ASTI, but it continues to slam it shut. It has still to explain why benchmarking is good enough for the INTO and the TUI but not good enough for the ASTI?