Second-level teachers have threatened to take legal action if the Government refuses to pay them during their industrial action which begins in eight days.
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said the Government had no right to withhold wages from its 16,000 members, who are planning a national strike on November 14th and a withdrawal from supervision duties on six subsequent days.
Teachers are not seeking pay for the strike day but are for the days when supervision is withdrawn. However, a report in the Sunday Independent claimed the Government was considering withholding wages.
A Department of Education spokesman would not comment on the report, which quoted a Government memo which said it was hard to see why teachers should be paid when classrooms were closed.
School managers have said they will not accept pupils on the six days because the absence of supervision means they cannot guarantee the health and safety of pupils. They have written to parents telling them not to send their children to school on November 16th, 22nd, 23rd, 28th, 29th and 30th.
The general secretary of the ASTI, Mr Charlie Lennon, said that "if this report is true we will be going to court straight away". He said teachers should be paid on the six days because they would be reporting for work and schools would be open.
"The leak of this report is designed to frighten people, but it will have the opposite effect," Mr Lennon said. The ASTI will not be paying most of its members strike pay on November 14th or during another strike day planned for early December, although some part-time teachers will get a small allowance.
According to sources in the ASTI, it cannot pay because it does not have sufficient resources.
Any move to withhold teachers' pay is likely to infuriate ASTI members. Teachers point out that supervision in most schools is done on a voluntary basis.
If the Government withholds pay it will seriously affect ASTI's chances of maintaining industrial action for a prolonged period. With no Government intervention expected, the industrial action could last into the new year.
The withholding of pay could also affect the other teachers' union, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI). Some of its members will be working in schools where classes will have been cancelled, so their pay could be stopped. The president of TUI, Mr John McGabhann, has said the union would resist such a move, which would only increase the anger among teachers towards the Government.
The Government is looking at measures to prevent the TUI and the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) from joining the ASTI strike. Most of these are expected to be included in the Budget, but are unlikely to be specifically aimed at teachers.
A meeting of the Dublin colleges branch of the TUI on Friday heard calls for it to move closer to ASTI. These calls are expected to grow as the strike draws closer. A group of teachers against the national pay deal, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, is meeting this week to discuss strategy.
ASTI has warned that if the strikes and supervision withdrawal do not gain concessions from the Government it may withdraw its co-operation from the State exams. This would make it impossible for the exams to be held. ASTI will have to decide on this by February, when orals and practicals take place.