A package of measures aimed at resolving the teachers' pay dispute will be put before the main secondary union next week by the Minister for Education in a last-ditch attempt to prevent school closures next month.
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said it would look fairly at the proposals from Dr Woods, but they would need to involve an "up-front pay award" of 30 per cent.
Sources said the package was unlikely to include this provision. Instead, its main element would be the speeding up of the "benchmarking process" included in the national pay deal. Teachers expect this process to reward them for introducing change in schools. It is also open to other public sector groups to use this process.
Teacher sources said the best the Government could achieve was to convince the other two teacher unions to remain within the national pay deal, even though the ASTI intends to purse its own strike strategy.
Most teacher representatives do not expect the meeting with Dr Woods next Thursday to close the gap between the Government and the ASTI. Their first one-day strike is due to take place on November 14th.
The ASTI have rejected the benchmarking process and are not part of the pay deal - the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
The overwhelming nature of its recent ballot in favour of strike action has hardened the ASTI's position.
The Cabinet is expected to be briefed on the package today but a final decision on its exact elements is not expected to be taken at the meeting, a Government source said last night.
"Teachers will be able to bring all their grievances to this benchmarking body which will start addressing them shortly. But all public servants can go down this route too if they want to," the source stressed.
The other two unions, the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO), are hoping the package will be sufficient to placate their members, many of whom are sympathetic to their colleagues in ASTI.
The TUI said yesterday it was a personal choice for its 10,000 members whether they crossed the ASTI pickets. Many schools have ASTI and TUI members working together. TUI president Mr John MacGabhann said he could understand the reluctance of TUI members to pass ASTI pickets.
The TUI has set a deadline - November 10th - for the Government to respond with a package, otherwise it will ballot members for strike action. Mr MacGabhann last night said: "TUI is absolutely determined that either through negotiation at an appropriate forum or by direct industrial action we will secure for members what is their due. The ball is now in the Government's court."
The most serious weapon ASTI can use in its pay battle is disruption of the State exams. This will come into focus for the first time in a fortnight when the Department of Education looks for teachers to take part in the oral and practical exams. These do not take place until February, but the Department needs to know earlier how many examiners are prepared to participate. It is not clear whether ASTI members will put their names forward or withdraw as a protest.
The most likely outcome is they will go forward in November to be examiners but may withdraw later if their strike action is continuing at that stage.