A bitter dispute has developed between the Department of Education and ASTI about the supervision and substitution deal.
In a confidential letter to the ASTI leadership, an assistant secretary in the Department says the "plain fact" is the union knew that payment for supervision/substitution would only be on the basis of delivery - with no payments for being "on call".
But this was angrily rejected by ASTI general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, last night. In a statement he said the union always believed that teachers would be paid for making themselves available for supervision/substitution work. "The union had no reason to believe there was any change in interpretations of the scheme prior to the ballot in November 2002."
ASTI voted 60:40 to support the €38-per-hour scheme in the ballot. It is now re-balloting on the issue because of the dispute about "on-call" payments.
The ASTI leadership has been under pressure to explain to members why it did not raise this issue before the ballot in November.
Last week, Mr Lennon sent a letter to the Department complaining about what he sees as its lack of candour on the working of the scheme.
The response from Mr Pat Burke, an assistant secretary, is equally blunt. It states that the terms of the scheme were clear from the outset. One of its "core principles" is that payment would be made on the basis of actual delivery by teachers, according to the letter. ...
The letter states the Department is aware that ASTI had been in discussions with the Joint Managerial Body (JMB) school management bodies in advance of the ballot and the position about payment for actual delivery was made absolutely clear.
The Department says it also clarified the matter during informal contacts. "The plain fact is, prior to any ballot being conducted, there was full clarity in relation to the issue of availability and payment would be on the basis of actual delivery."
At its meeting yesterday the 23-member ASTI standing committee reiterated that the "new interpretation by school management bodies in relation to payment for teachers committing to the Supervision and Substitution Scheme on delivery only, was not made known to the union prior to its members balloting the deal in November 2002".
The executive postponed setting a timetable for its new ballot until the issue was clarified by Mr Lennon and senior officials. This ballot could be delayed until March because schools are taking mid-term breaks from the middle of next month.
Last night, Mr Lennon stressed the union had no reason to believe there was any change in interpretations of the scheme prior to the ballot last November.
He added that, while discussions did take place between the JMB and the ASTI in relation to amendments, these discussions did not deal with the issue of payment for "commitment to deliver as opposed to actual delivery".