The prospect of the teachers' dispute escalating in the new year with more one-day strikes increased yesterday after the main secondary union pulled out of negotiations.
Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) were infuriated at the Department of Education's decision to dock teachers five days' pay. This works out on average at £300 to £400 each, said the union.
With the Department of Education planning to dock another four days on January 11th, hopes of an early settlement are fading. The union claimed the decision to dock pay was an act of bad faith by the Government and consequently it was not prepared to continue talks with Mr Tom Pomphrett, a mediator from the Labour Relations Commission.
He will try to make contact with ASTI over Christmas, but with the union pulling out this is unlikely to yield results.
At a rancorous meeting, the standing committee of ASTI voted to withdraw from the current "talks about talks" and said it would not rejoin them unless the Government guaranteed the money would be reimbursed.
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said he was "dismayed and disappointed" by ASTI's decision. He said he was surprised that such a crucial decision was only voted on by its standing committee which had 22 members, and not its central executive committee, with 180 members.
The way the money was docked by the Department particularly incensed the union. "It sent precisely the wrong signal just when we were making progress in trying to end the dispute," said one senior member. Some teachers who pay their union subscription themselves were not docked while those who have it deducted at source were. Some teachers who taught on the days of supervision withdrawal were also docked.
The Department of Education said last night these issues would be dealt with in future pay packets. However, some teachers were planning to take legal action.
The outcome of the standing committee vote represented a triumph for former ASTI president Ms Bernadine O'Sullivan.
The committee rejected a compromise offer in which the Department agreed to consider a refund of the money if the peace talks made progress.
The Department maintains it had no option but to proceed with the deductions for administrative reasons. It says the decision was made by the Government 10 days ago after ASTI signalled its intention of disrupting exams.
Some within the ASTI standing committee hope to forge an alliance with the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) to advance their 30 per cent pay claim in the new year.
The next ASTI strike is scheduled for January 16th in Dublin schools. After that other regions will be hit, and from February the union will start pulling out of exam work.