The Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) today submitted a letter to the Taoiseach at Government Buildings reiterating its call for the repayment of docked pay.
The teachers were docked pay from their Christmas pay packets after a series of work-to-rule days late last year.
The move came as the ASTI started a series of rolling one-day strikes across the State in support of its 30 per cent pay claim.
More than 160 Dublin secondary schools are closed today while schools in the rest of Leinster will be affected tomorrow, followed by Munster schools on Thursday. The planned action by the 17,000 ASTI teachers will see students lose nine days of school between now and Easter ( Schedule of ASTI strike action 2001).
Pessimism over breaking the deadlock in the dispute is growing as today's Irish Timesreported the Government-appointed mediator, Mr Tom Pomphrett, said he had no new proposals to put forward before ASTI's standing committee meets on Friday.
The letter from ASTI President, Mr Don McCluskey, and General Secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, responded to claims made by Mr Ahern today's Irish Times.
In the article Mr Ahern said the ASTI is on a crusade which is partly about a power struggle within the union, as well as one "against the rest of the public service and the whole social partnership process".
He said: "Ultimately, perhaps, this is a crusade against the Government."
The Taoiseach also defended the Government’s stance and questioned the necessity for the strike action given the substantial increases in teachers' pay under the PPF and the promise of more in the benchmarking review body.
The ASTI letter said the current strike action was supported by 90 per cent of those members who voted on industrial action in support of their pay claim.
It called for the repayment of the docked pay as a means to restore confidence in the Government’s commitment to resolve the dispute.
The union acknowledged Mr Ahern’s statement that the repayment is available and said, if he put this in writing, the ASTI would place the proposal before its Standing Committee and the Central Executive Council.
Earlier today a spokeswoman for the Congress of Catholic Secondary School Parent Associations (CSPA), Ms Barbara Johnston, said the Taoiseach's description of the teachers' dispute is an attempt to divert attention from the failure of both parties to make a concerted effort to enter talks.
"Both parties have been dancing about the issue for the last two months," she said.