Teachers have warned that discipline in schools could break down if members of the public are hired to do supervision and substitution work in schools from March 4th.
In another development, the previously cordial relationship between the TUI and the ASTI has broken down, with the TUI criticising the latest set of demands from the larger union.
The warning about discipline came from the general secretary of the TUI, Mr Jim Dorney, who said that contingency plans from the Minister for Education would "certainly create disciplinary problems in school term and a legacy of conflict which will take a long time for schools to recover from".
The president of the TUI, Mr John Mac Gabhann, joined in the warnings and said: "You can train people as much as you like but you need to know the children."
He said there was no doubt that indiscipline in schools would increase if non-teachers were asked to do the work.
"Teachers know what buttons to press, what groupings to look out for in the school yard. You cannot train people to know those things," he said.
The TUI said that instead of proceeding with the contingency plans, the Minister, Dr Woods, would be better negotiating a solution with the three teacher unions.
Meanwhile, the TUI, in an internal document to members, criticises the four extra demands issued by the ASTI on Friday.
It focuses on two demands - that existing pensioners should get a lump sum for having done supervision in the past and that all supervision/substitution should be done within 22 hours teaching time.
The TUI document says of these: "These are new demands and constitute a new claim and are inconsistent with the TUI claim that these duties are voluntary."
The TUI also complains in its document about the ASTI denying it and the INTO the chance of handing the supervision and substitution issue over to a third party.
It says that a meeting on February 12th of the Teachers' Conciliation Council asked the three unions for a common position.
However, the ASTI refused because it did not see supervision as an issue for this body.
The TUI document says: "This prevented further negotiations by both TUI and INTO to seek a resolution of the difficulty.
"The further negotiations which were denied us were facilitation and arbitration."