After a disastrous pay campaign, the ASTI must re-invent itself. The first step should be to forge much stronger links with the other teaching unions, argues Sean Flynn, Education Editor
After three years of non-stop attrition, the atmosphere has changed dramatically at the ASTI headquarters near Christchurch in Dublin. These days, the union is off the front pages and the mobile phone of its press officer, Gemma Tuffy no longer rings continuously.
There are still some minor skirmishes. A small dissident group is continuing to circulate e-mails moaning and groaning about the leadership. There are vague threats of legal actions and loose talk about a breakaway union. But, for the most part things have settled down. The ASTI pay campaign that closed schools, split the union, tarnished the reputation of teachers and ultimately achieved very little has ended with a whimper.
The revolutionary group who set the agenda in the union for the past three years have failed to achieve their two main objectives. They failed to secure a substantial increase in pay. And they failed to unseat the union's battle-hardened general secretary, Charlie Lennon.
On pay , the 30 per cent pay claim is now dead in the water. The best ASTI can hope for is the 13 per cent secured by the INTO and the TUI from the benchmarking process. It is a poor return for a campaign which was intended to demonstrate how a militant ASTI would take the lead on teachers' pay and set the agenda for the softies in the other teaching unions. Instead, ASTI must hitch a ride on the benchmarking bus driven by John Carr of the INTO and Jim Dorney of the TUI.
The anti-Lennon campaign has also failed miserably. The militants liked to portray Lennon and other senior officials as "fat cats" who had cut themselves adrift from the needs of ordinary teachers. In fact, Lennon is a hugely admired figure across the entire trade union movement. Time and again, during the pay campaign he - as an experienced trade unionist - warned the militants that they were hell bent on a road to destruction. He warned them of the need to build bridges with parents, with the wider trade union and, critically, with the other teaching unions. But few among the militants were prepared to listen to his advice. This morning, as ASTI surveys the wreckage of the campaign, Charlie Lennon is entitled to say: "I told you so".
Where does ASTI go from here? The first step must be to build much stronger links with the other teaching unions. Greater unity would mean greater strength. Together, the ASTI, the TUI and the INTO represent almost 50,000 teachers in the Republic. Does it really make sense for these unions to be making a separate case on pay and conditions to the Department of Education when every teacher is working from exactly the same salary scale?
There is much to do. Irish teachers remain grossly underpaid with poor levels of disposable income. A united teachers' movement- either by a formal ASTI/TUI merger or new structures for closer co-operation among all three unions - would represent a real power in the land. It would help ensure that a teaching union would never again go off on an ASTI-style "solo run". It would mean no repetition of the bizarre circumstances of the ASTI dispute when the union was battling against the other teaching unions - as well as the Government.
The good news is that moves are already under way among rank-and-file ASTI members to form a merger with the TUI and/or closer links with the other teaching unions. The ASTI leadership should push forward with the unity agenda. There is no other realistic alternative.
