Secondary teachers are set to back plans for strike action by an overwhelming majority when the result of their ballot becomes known later today.
Last night, members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) were predicting "overwhelming" support for the union's planned industrial action after a huge turnout in the ballot. Well over 75 per cent of the union's 16,000 members are thought to have voted in the ballot on strike action, with a turnout of up to 90 per cent reported in some regions.
ASTI members are planning industrial action in pursuit of their 30 per cent pay claim. Earlier this year, the union walked out of negotiations on the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). The other teaching unions, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), accepted the terms of the PPF, which give teachers a pay rise of about 19 per cent over three years.
The PPF also held out the promise of additional money through a benchmarking system, which pegs public sector pay to that in the private sector.
Balloting of ASTI members ended last night and the counting of votes will begin this morning, with the result now regarded as a foregone conclusion.
"The huge numbers who are coming out to vote . . . are coming out to vote in favour of industrial action," said one observer.
The vote for strike action means some 620 secondary schools will close during a national one-day strike by ASTI members on Tuesday, November 14th. This action will be followed by a series of regional one-day strikes in Munster (November 21st), Connacht/Ulster (November 23rd), Leinster (November 28th) and the Dublin area (November 30th).
In recent weeks, both the INTO and the TUI, under pressure from their own grassroots, have increased their efforts to secure new concessions. Both unions want the Government to speed up the benchmarking process, which is not due to be completed until the end of 2002.