The Minister for Education signalled that teachers would achieve their demands in the new benchmarking process when he addressed the INTO conference.
Dr Woods said the union's aim of getting a maximum salary for teachers who have not been promoted of £40,000 plus was a "realistic target", although he said the ultimate decision rested with the benchmarking body. He was speaking to reporters after addressing delegates.
If the maximum salary for teachers who have not been promoted was raised to £40,000 plus, this would represent a pay increase of about 15 per cent on current salary levels.
The INTO general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, also wants the teachers' pay scale reduced from 25 years to 12. Responding to this in his speech, Dr Woods said: "I don't think he'll have all that much difficulty in meeting his vision."
"The teachers' pay scale has to be reduced. There is no doubt it is too long," Dr Woods told reporters.
He said any reduction needed to take place gradually, because if done overnight it could be very expensive.
Teachers in all unions had three ways to get money: through the PPF, benchmarking and entering negotiations on supervision. The teachers' conciliation council would consider the issue of paying teachers for supervision on May 8th.
He added that if the talks went well, he hoped a new arrangement could be in place by September. The revised Labour Court package had "copper-fastened" the case for supervision payments and the situation was "all over the place" at present.
He said he hoped for a new "optimum" supervision system, where every teacher contributed and everyone consequently benefited. "If every teacher gets involved, teachers will not have to do it all that much," he said.
Responding to Dr Woods's speech, Senator O'Toole said: "I did say that if the Minister went out on a limb that I would applaud him myself, and he was very close. You are standing at the end of that branch, so move out on it".
However, he issued a stark warning to Dr Woods: "There is unanimity in this organisation at every level that, if benchmarking does not deliver, we will not stand idly by, to put it in the words of one of your famous predecessors."
Senator O'Toole has championed the benchmarking process and compared it to an ATM machine.
"Somebody asked me `What happens if there is no money in the ATM machine?' Well, if there is no money in the ATM machine, then it is time to take out a sledgehammer," he said. "Many of our members have doubts about whether bench marking can deliver.
"We respect their right to question and to doubt and to debate on this issue, but I guarantee, Minister, that we will hold the line on benchmarking, but if it does not deliver there will be outright war and there is nothing surer than that."
After Senator O'Toole finished speaking some delegates criticised the INTO leadership's performance during the ASTI dispute. Ms Crea Ryder said the Government was waging a "war" on teachers, and there had been a "deafening silence" from the INTO leadership on this. She said ASTI teachers were colleagues, and the INTO should be supporting them.
However, Mr Tom O'Sullivan, a candidate to succeed Senator O'Toole as general secretary, said the INTO did not agree with the ASTI's strategy for getting a rise, but did share the "common aim" of getting a rise. Mr Noel Ward, who is also seeking to replace Senator O'Toole, said some voices from the national trade union movement "seemed intent on demoralising the teachers".
The PPF needed to be revised again to respond to a new inflation threat.
"Partnership is on trial, in its basic pay elements and in its benchmarking process, each of which must be responsive to pay demands. If it cannot respond, we should attend well to the lessons from the ASTI experience, because the alternative to effective partnership is dispute," he said.