Not so long ago, the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) was a byword for restraint and responsibility. The union was widely respected; it was a challenging and thoughtful voice in Irish education. This morning, after perhaps the most troubling week in its history, the union finds this reputation under serious threat. The alleged incidents involving parents' representatives at its annual conference appear unsavoury and disturbing. The President of the National Parents' Council (Post-Primary) claims she was verbally abused and jostled. Gardai are investigating an alleged late night assault on another parents' representative.
Incredibly, the union's conference - the centrepiece of its year - had to be interrupted to allow a Garda plea for information on the alleged assault to be read to delegates. Worryingly, on the basis of RTE radio interviews in recent days, there is little to suggest that the union will conduct thorough inquiries of its own to try to seek out the truth. It has apparently failed to appreciate the potential damage to the union itself, if there is substance in these allegations. Amid the sound and fury of this week's conference, it was tempting to overlook the significant change in tactics by the union. It now seems likely that the State exams will proceed as normal. There will be no more rolling three-day strikes. The conference rejected the option of an all-out strike.
The union is making much of its new strategy - an effective work to rule from September. It has little option. ASTI has already fired its best shots; it is now reverting to a strategy which has already proven unsuccessful. Meanwhile, at the end of this week, the chasm between it and the other teaching unions - the INTO and the TUI - is widening. A former TUI president, Mr Joe Carolan, has said that ASTI has been defeated. Several senior INTO figures share this view. Both of these unions are proceeding with confidence into the benchmarking body. For its part, the ASTI conference has recommended to members that they should reject the same option when they ballot on the Labour Court offer next week. The expectation is that members will follow the advice of the convention and reject the Labour Court offer. Teachers are angry and frustrated that the 30 per cent pay increase - promised by some in their own union - has not materialised. They are, justifiably, angry about the manner in which their pay has been allowed to trail behind other graduate professions.
Over 30,000 teachers in the INTO and the TUI are no less unhappy about their pay and conditions. But, unlike the ASTI, they are pressing their case in a way which does not damage students, worry parents and undermine national pay policy at a time when economic storm clouds appear to be gathering. Secondary teachers face a stark choice in next week's ballot. They can continue to heed the advice of those in their own union who have brought them to this troublesome pass. Or they make common cause with their sister teaching unions in benchmarking - with every prospect of a successful outcome. In truth, there is only one option. After a less than glorious campaign - and more especially after this troubling week - ASTI members should cut their losses and end the long war.