Sir, - Martin Frawley (Opinion, May 7th) suggests that secondary teachers should have taken some lessons from the nurses' dispute. Maybe they should - and in a couple of years' time we would have secondary school teachers coming from the Philippines to be exploited by ruthless landlords. One is reluctant to criticise experts, but the simplistic notion that all would have been fine if the ASTI membership had heeded the professionals is more than a little naive. . Mr Frawley's analysis of the complex problem in the ASTI is typified by his reference to the "O'Sullivan faction". The term faction is usually reserved for a small dissentient group. Surely a majority doesn't become a faction until it drops below 50 per cent of the membership. After all they have been through, 57 per cent of ASTI members are still unwilling to accept bench-marking. Maybe Mr Frawley is one of the new breed of industrial relations experts who believes that majorities have no rights in trades unions.
His second last paragraph is a masterpiece of innuendo. He writes that ASTI officials were criticised at last year's ASTI convention and adds that Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan was given a medal at this year's convention. The implication is that this was a reward for the alleged insult given to officials last year. If Mr Frawley had carried out a little more research before writing his article he would have learned that all former ASTI presidents are presented with a medal at the convention in the year after their term of office, regardless of how they performed when in office.
It is time for newspapers and experts to stop giving their opinions on this very serious matter unless they have proposals that may help resolve the problem. - Yours, etc.,
Louis OFlaherty, Lorcan Drive, Dublin 9.
Sir, - As one of the sizeable minority (43 per cent) of ASTI members who reluctantly voted to accept the derisory offer made by the Minister of Education in the Labour Court proposal, I would like to make the following points.
Delegates to the annual convention voted 3:1 to reject the proposal. Only 57 per cent of the general membership voted to reject the proposal. This hardly shows proportional representation of members by the delegates.
A union cannot win a campaign without the support of its members. The support of public opinion is also helpful. Over the past year the ASTI has gradually lost the good will of the public with some assistance from the media. It would seem now that it is losing the good will of a considerable number of its members. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour.
I think it is time for the ASTI executive to admit that that mistakes have been made and cut its losses. The Minister of Education has successfully turned every stage of the campaign to his advantage and made the teachers look like the "baddies". I believe this will continue next year if the current campaign is renewed.
We now have a situation where unions, parents' associations and various bodies representing school management are dealing separately with the Department of Education and Science about the future of our young people. No one could want a repeat of this year's disruption of schools, which was stressful for students, teachers and parents. Surely it is time for the teaching profession to speak with one voice.
Would it be so difficult, even at this late stage, for the ASTI and TUI to come together and attempt to produce a common strategy? - Yours, etc.,
Maire Donovan, Dundrum, Dublin 16.