Pressure is building within the ASTI for a new ballot on supervision as peace talks failed to resolve the dispute yesterday. ASTI officials will renew discussions with the school management bodies later today, but a compromise paper has still to be tabled.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, refused to yield any ground to the union during a one-hour meeting yesterday.
ASTI membeers voted 60-40 to back the new €37-per-hour pension package before Christmas, but some senior figures now say they were misled about the operation of the deal. They are expected to demand a fresh ballot when the ASTI executive meets, possibly later this week, to consider the current impasse with the Department.
Other figures in the ASTI leadership insist all relevant information was given to members before the vote. Those backing a new ballot include the ASTI treasurer, Ms Patricia Wroe, and the national organiser, Mr Noel Buckley.
Yesterday the Department ruled out any on-call payments for teachers who volunteer for the new supervision/substitution arrangements.
It is angry that the ASTI alone is refusing to operate the scheme. Members of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Teachers' Union of Ireland are doing so without controversy.
The dispute centres on the ASTI's interpretation of a deal brokered between the Department and the teaching unions last year. The Department wants teachers to be available for supervision, but the ASTI says its members must be paid if they are on call.
Under the agreement, teachers are obliged to do 37 hours per year of supervision and substitution work. The ASTI is offering 66 minutes per week, the equivalent of 37 hours per year.
School management and the Department want a more flexible scheme where the substitution hours not completed by a teacher in one week could be rescheduled when needed. They also want the supervision scheme to be run from one school year to the next, and not on a weekly basis.
Three candidates have emerged for the post of ASTI vice-president. They are Ms Susie Hall, Mr Paddy Mulcahy and Ms Sheila Parsons. The current vice-president, Mr Pat Cahill, is widely expected to replace Mr P.J. Sheehy as president when his term expires in July.