Dear Editor,

The suggestion has been made that rejection of the teachers' pay package means that teachers and the public could face a period of industrial unrest.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There is enough money in the package. It is the uneven distribution of the money in the key three areas of retirement, specialist teachers and promotion that is being questioned and can be renegotiated. The fact is only £5.6 million out of a total of £67 million is being spent on the retirement offer. This offer does not reduce the number of years (40) by even one year required for full pension, and this is causing the greatest unease among ASTI members.

Your education correspondent has also reiterated his belief that it is only the older male "fuddy duddy" teachers who are in favour of the existing promotion system based on seniority. This suggests that women and younger teachers would be in favour of its abolition.

There are statistics which show that women in the community school sector do not fare as well as men in the "merit" system. Moreover, it is the experience of many second level religious run schools for girls that when a religious female principal retires, a male principal is appointed. Why would young teachers vote for a package which involves longer working hours, compulsory parent teacher meetings outside school time, etc., in return for the prospect of being appointed to the one new post which may be allocated to some second level schools.

A leaflet by the ASTI Dublin S2 branch dealing with the package was distributed throughout the country. It received some disparaging comments in the E&L supplement. There were claims that it was fundamentally flawed etc.

In the age old tradition of pamphletry, it gives an analysis of the issues involved. There are, I believe, one or two relatively minor errors, e.g. when the letter "B" should have read "A". Overall it has contributed greatly to the debate in staffrooms.

Yours,

Donaghmoyne,

Carrickmacross,

Co Monaghan.