Madam, - In an article by Sean Flynn, the ASTI is described "as as a dysfunctional organisation" which is the "enfant terrible" of the trade union movement (Education Today, December 2nd). However, Mr Flynn and other commentators have acknowledged that the ASTI campaign influenced the size of the pay awards made to teachers. As the primary function of a trade union is to improve the pay and conditions of its members, then the ASTI has demonstrated that it is indeed a functional trade union.
Is this why it has had to endure such a campaign of vilification and why some of its members have been subjected to what possibly amounts to demonisation because they obeyed decisions taken by huge majority votes of our members? The ASTI did not, as Mr Flynn asserts, "lock horns with the ICTU, the other teacher union, the Labour Relations Commission, the Teachers Arbitration Board and the Labour Court".
The ASTI was one of the most loyal members of the ICTU; its members promoted ICTU policy and taught trade union studies in schools. Members found it very difficult to understand why, despite the esteem in which the three powerful general secretaries of the teachers' unions were held, when the general secretaries looked for a special mechanism to address the specific concerns of teachers, this was not forthcoming. Other unions seemed to be able to achieve this for their members.
In 2002 the then general secretary of the INTO and president of the ICTU, Mr Joe O'Toole, said: "Irish teachers are poorly rewarded for the work they do."
Why was this allowed to happen? Mr Flynn knows that the Labour Court heard only one side of the story in relation to staff matters yet its constitution states that both sides must be heard before a judgment is made. Furthermore, Mr Flynn knows that the ASTI wrote to the Labour Court and apologised for non-attendance because of legal advice given that while the injunction by the general secretary was still in operation, the officers should not attend.
The ASTI did not expect The Irish Times or other media to take the part of the ASTI in our campaign for a salary increase. However, it did and still does expect objective and balanced coverage on all matters relating to our members. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK CAHILL, BL, President, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, Winetavern Street, Dublin 8.