The decision of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) to put the revised Labour Court offer to a ballot without any recommendation is a welcome development. The union's 17,000 members will now get an opportunity to review a carefully crafted document which, as the court makes clear, represents the last opportunity to resolve this dispute. No other intervention is possible. After months of attrition, many secondary teachers may be disappointed by the Labour Court offer. There is no upfront payment. It is clear the union must return to the partnership fold - and enter the benchmarking process - if it hopes to secure a sizeable pay increase over and above that flowing from the PPF. It could not be any other way. The chairman of the court, Mr Finbarr Flood, had to set the ASTI claim in the overall context of pay policy for over 200,000 public servants. He had to be conscious of the fact that over 30,000 teachers in the INTO and the TUI were pursuing a broadly similar claim through the benchmarking process. In the end, Mr Flood produced an excellent document. It holds out the promise of money for supervision and substitution. A lump sum of £1,750 is available for teachers who work extra classes. The court acknowledges ASTI's case for a pay increase and provides all the reassurance the union could possibly require about the benchmarking process. Critically, the misconceptions peddled about benchmarking have been laid to rest. It does not involve performance-related pay. It will, quite rightly, reward teachers for past changes in productivity. It will provide fresh payments within a relatively short timeframe. Better still, the Department of Education will not dispute the court's finding that the union has a "sustainable" case for a pay increase at the benchmarking body. ASTI is the only union effectively guaranteed a hefty pay increase from benchmarking. In the light of this reassurance every ASTI member who will now ballot on the proposals should ask themselves this question: why is benchmarking good enough for the INTO and the TUI but not good enough for the ASTI?
Secondary teachers might also ask themselves what is the alternative to the revised Labour Court offer? Students have lost over a dozen days in this academic year but it has failed to break the Government's resolve. Meanwhile, the Department of Education is pressing ahead with its contingency plan for the State examinations - bolstered by the very strong response for exam supervisors. To its credit, ASTI has now suspended the exam ban, its much-prized "nuclear weapon". It is an overdue recognition of the trauma this has been inflicted on students at one of the most vulnerable and stressful periods of their lives.
It has been a long, difficult and worrying winter for students, for parents and, not least, for secondary teachers themselves. ASTI members now face a stark choice between a deal supported by their moderate leadership or one opposed by the core of hardliners whose agenda has been allowed to dominate.