Analysis: Many teachers are distinctly unenthusiastic about the ban on supervision which begins today, argues Sean Flynn, Education Editor.
On the eve of a new rash of industrial action, you might think that the average teacher this weekend was looking forward to giving the Government a bit of a bloody nose. In fact, the reverse appears to be true. The comments of one experienced south Dublin teacher were typical.
"Most of us are totally fed up with all of this agitation. We don't want to worry parents or worry the kids in the run-in to the exams. We just want to get on with our jobs."
In the past week, a small number of schools have been in contact with ASTI headquarters expressing alarm about the ban on supervision. Further complaints seem likely if there is serious disruption and schools are forced to close in the coming weeks.
The ASTI has recent experience of a grassroots revolution. Last year, there was widespread anger when the executive refused to give members an opportunity to vote on the Labour Court document on pay. There was further anger months later when they were denied a vote on the Government's offer on supervision.
It was partly in response to this anger that the leadership conducted an extensive survey of members before Christmas. More than 70 per cent took part in the survey which provides the most accurate picture of opinion within the union. The results bear repetition.
Members were massively against further industrial action which would disrupt or close schools. Some 74 per cent defied the ASTI leadership by favouring co-operation with the benchmarking pay body. Teachers said they wanted to ban co-operation with new Department of Education programmes and other small-scale protests.
In summing up the mood of members in January, the ASTI's journal, Aistir, said members wanted "non-disruptive action which targets government".
In this context, parents - and indeed many teachers - must wonder why the ASTI is again on a war footing this morning. The reason is because the results of this survey continue to be ignored by the leadership.
The ASTI is largely controlled by the 180-member Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the small, still more influential Standing Committee. The union maintains that these structures allow it to reflect feelings on the ground.
However, the union - like other trade unions and indeed political parties - is suffering because of the waves of apathy among members. Attendance at ASTI branch meetings is pitiful; less than 10 per cent in some cases.
Inevitably, a small group can come to control the agenda but since others do not bother to get involved, they can scarcely complain. The ASTI, says one hardline member, is "no more or no less democratic" than any big trade union.
Democracy in the ASTI is not helped by fact that members are still obliged to vote at their branches rather than in schools. This makes it difficult for those who commute a long distance to school every day to participate in the union's democracy.
In recent months there has been solid evidence of the grassroots drifting away from the union after the troubled pay campaign. Less than a quarter of members voted in a ballot on non co-operation with new Department programmes. Just over half bothered to vote when the supervision offer of €34 an hour was rejected by members last month.
The supervision offer was rightly condemned by many teachers because the payment was non-pensionable. It was also rejected by the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) but, whereas the TUI saw the rejection as a bargaining chip in negotiation, the ASTI took a more hardline stance.
Its executive voted for a ban on supervision, but it also tabled four new demands including, in a bizarre twist, retrospective supervision payments for all retired teachers.
Commenting on this, one education source said the bar had been set "impossibly high" by people who had "no interest" in a negotiated settlement. This weekend, the union's executive voted 87-69 to rule out any further talks on supervision until its 30 per cent pay claim is resolved.
The supervision issue now seems firmly deadlocked even though the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, has at last opened the way for pensionable payments. His response was welcomed by the TUI and the INTO, but the ASTI in characteristic fashion continues to fight on.
At this stage, it is not clear when ordinary members of the union will get another chance to have their say.
Not all members of the union's leadership are happy with the turn of events. The general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, and the union president, Ms Catherine Fitzpatrick, would prefer a more nuanced and less confrontational approach, but there is little tolerance of their views amongst the hardliners.
A leaflet which was harshly critical of both was sent anonymously to schools and the media last month. Others who have spoken out have also been targeted.
Mr Pierce Purcell, a former union president who has urged it to return to "mainstream union activity" is facing possible expulsion and/or disciplinary action.