TUI CONFERENCE: After a relatively placid week the TUI conference burst into life on the pay issue with forceful contributions from some of its more radical voices about what lies ahead if benchmarking fails.
One of those voices, the union's incoming vice-president Mr Paddy Healy, a staunch critic of benchmarking, said the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, should realise the union would take firm action if a major pay rise was not granted. "We won't be one bit cuddly then," he said.
He said the TUI would seek allies wherever it could find them for the "war" that lay ahead. He said the TUI leadership had to ballot members on benchmarking solely and this ballot must be conducted at a time which allowed for teacher unity.
The benchmarking body should not only deal with the teachers' main pay claim, he said, but also with its "early settlers" claim, which the three unions are pursuing because they settled early in the PCW pay round.
He said the TUI's submission to benchmarking was a catch-up claim involving past productivity only, and any offer should not come with strings attached.
Mr Healy made several contributions which were greeted with loud applause, although when he approached the rostrum again the TUI president, Mr John MacGabhann, joked: "Here comes the nightmare again."
However, Mr Healy said his "nightmare" was if the Government tried to combine supervision, PFF and benchmarking awards into one settlement and this was trumpeted in an edition of TUI News. He said teachers must see benchmarking as a stand-alone claim and not allow anybody to link it to other items.
Mr Eddie Conlon, a TUI executive member, said the ASTI dispute showed that teacher unions needed allies and the TUI should seek them throughout the public service.
He said he could foresee what would happen when the benchmarking recommendations were issued. The TUI would be told it could not reject the award, he said, and could only discuss its phasing. The union would go from being "media darlings" to "greedy teachers again".
The directors of the institutes of technology had been awarded 24 per cent and they would be getting the full benefit of this by the end of the year. "If that's what they got, we should get it too," he said.
Mr Derek Dunne, the incoming president, said if benchmarking was a flop, the reaction from teachers would soon turn to a "rage". He said teachers' faith in exercises like benchmarking would be damaged forever and this would have implications for social partnership. "Pay up or else we will close up," he said.
With various figures being mentioned from the podium, one delegate drew laughter with his guide to the benchmarking process. He held up a chart which said 10 per cent was "not enough", 25 per cent was "a lot" and 34 per cent was "substantial".
Earlier, there was some confusion about whether the TUI's claim for 34 per cent included the last 7 per cent rise granted as part of the PPF. This would have meant the TUI was pursuing a 27 per cent claim, not 34 per cent. However, a union spokes- man later said the claim was for 34 per cent and "no less" and PPF was not relevant in this context.
Also appearing at the TUI conference yesterday was the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, who received a rapturous welcome from delegates, getting a standing ovation before and after his speech and signing several autographs for members.
He attacked the 11-plus form of academic selection in Northern Ireland and said nobody had the right to label a child at that age a failure.