For months secondary teachers complained about how their pay campaign was being drowned out in the media by the taxi dispute and other issues. There was no danger of that at the Burlington Hotel on Saturday. The presence of RTE's Charlie Bird said it all.
During the meeting one delegate, Mr Noel Buckley from Tipperary, pointed to a wider significance. You could tell they were making progress, he said, when Charlie Bird was present to report on their meeting. He had never much bothered with them before now, but people were beginning to sit up and take notice. Their tough tactics were working.
Requesting support for the peace proposals, Mr Charlie Lennon, general secretary, said some ASTI members had been unprofessional in contacting Minister for Education Dr Woods at his home and making personalised attacks. He also criticised ASTI members for confronting senior Department of Education officials on the street.
The compromise offer worked out by Mr Tom Pomphrett of the Labour Relations Commission - in which the Government would refund docked pay on certain conditions - was the best available. Mr Lennon said he had used up all his contacts in the Labour Relations Commission, Government and elsewhere to get the best possible deal. The alternative, he cautioned, was a doomsday scenario.
Responding, Mr Buckley said he preferred to talk about an opportunity scenario. ASTI might be a loose cannon because it was outside the partnership fold but this was a justice issue. The black population of South Africa would never have made progress if they were worried about rowing against the tide. The essential justice of the teachers' case would allow them to prevail.
Ms Eileen Scanlon, a Galway delegate, said ASTI was up against it as it faced a barrage of criticism from all sides. It was a bit like Galway in the All-Ireland. It might be better strategy to move to the centre-field and use the kind of experience Kerry used to such devastating effect in Croke Park.
Mr David Martin, who opposed the peace formula, said the Government was trying to do to teachers what the Thatcher government did to the miners. Reading from an Economist article on the Irish economy, he said the Government was determined to protect the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness but ASTI members should not lose sight of the justice of their case.
Ms Monica Keane, said Big Jim Larkin would turn in his grave if he thought ASTI would accept the kind of compromise offer on the table. The union must stand up for the basic civil rights of trade unionists. In what was regarded as a powerful address, Mr Bernard Lynch proposed a motion that the union would re-enter talks only if docked money was refunded without strings attached. By docking the money, Michael Woods had turned industrial action into a rebellion. In a rebuff to the Government, the 180-member central executive committee (CEC) voted 92 to 69 for the Lynch motion. Earlier, the 23-member standing committee had voted down the peace formula by 12 votes to 10.
When she emerged from Saturday's meeting around 4 p.m., the former ASTI president, Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan, spoke with great fervour. Ms O'Sullivan - perhaps the most influential figure in moving sentiment against the proposed peace formula - said the union was on a crusade. This, she said, was a crusade about the future of teaching and education. Asked about the union's decision to defy the leadership, she said the outcome would strengthen the negotiators' hands in the next round of discussions with the Government.
Ms O'Sullivan's impromptu press conference caused a stir in the hall, as the meeting was still continuing and a press conference - to be addressed by Mr Lennon and Mr McCluskey - had been scheduled for later. A senior official was delegated by the top table to investigate what was happening. He reported back that Ms O'Sullivan was indeed addressing the media.
After she spoke, reporters were advised by the ASTI press office that Ms O'Sullivan was an unofficial spokesperson; the general secretary, Mr Lennon, would be giving a press conference later.
The incident again underlined the bitter division between the union's leadership and some of its members. Mr Lennon, his deputy, Mr John White, the union president, Mr Don McCluskey and its vice-president, Ms Catherine Fitzpatrick, all backed the peace moves.
They lost out to a more militant group which includes four standing committee members, Ms O'Sullivan, Mr Bernard Lynch, Ms Sheila Parsons and Mr Pat Cahill.
The split has huge implications for the Government. It has to do business with an accomplished negotiator, Mr Lennon, but it must also satisfy itself the general secretary can sell any peace offer to his executive.
In a motion adopted late on Saturday evening, the CEC also set new limits on the leadership's freedom to manoeuvre. It requested the president, Mr McCluskey, to outline the principles which would guide him in any negotiating process.
In the debate, Mr McCluskey agreed to be mindful of several principles including:
An acceptance that "industrial action will only be suspended when a meaningful forum of actual talks is established to advance the ASTI claim for a salary increase which is reflected in the forum's start-up terms of reference".
Any peace talks should be completed by February 15th.
Negotiations shall be on the basis of (a) a flat-rate increase across the common basic scale that shall accrue to both salaries and pensions and (b) no increases will be agreed on the basis of either performance-related pay or benchmarking, nor will there be acceptance of once-off lump sums. (This motion has already been adopted by ASTI).
Recognition that ASTI has a right to negotiate its pay claim outside the partnership model.