Sir, - Frank Farrelly (May 1st) raises two seminal issues in the teachers' dispute. The first is respect. He has a point. In the not-so-distant past the (third-level) educated professional elite demanded and received the respect of the rest of the community. The teacher, doctor, priest, vet, lawyer were held in esteem by the ordinary folk, even though their income, in some cases, did not reflect this respect.
Qualifications led to respect. In more recent times the public service has used qualifications as the benchmark in pay parity negotiations, so qualifications led also to remuneration.
Over the years successive generations have increased their take-up of third-level education to the stage where a large proportion of the population are "better-qualified" than their first- and second-level teachers. While one might question if the educated elite ever deserved the respect they received, surely teachers, who bemoan the loss of this respect, must accept that many more people are now better educated and better qualified than they are and, as such, are due both respect and recompense for this.
The second issue brought up in Mr Farrelly's letter is the failure of the teachers' public relations machine and their vilification in the media. Mr Farrelly's comments show how out of touch he is with public opinion. He speaks of "the usual dog-in-the-manger whinging about three months' holidays and pensionable security" and "the not uncommon belief that only the `good teachers` should be paid". He fails to understand that very few people in the private sector have a job for life. If the teachers' extended leave and the absence of the threat of layoffs or productivity variations are of as little value as teachers would have you believe, what price would they demand if they were taken away?
I believe the teachers have a case for a pay rise. Whether they are inside the PPF or not, that increase must be fair and be seen to be fair; the Government is, therefore, limited as to what it can do, regardless of what percentage of ASTI members think otherwise. The Government has offered two methods of exceeding the limits of the PPF - benchmarking and payment for currently unpaid/voluntary duties. Both have been refused.
The perception is that the teachers want more than their due and if that is a failure of their public relations machine or mere "teacherphobia", can someone explain precisely what is wrong with the Government's offer? - Yours, etc.,
Fintan Molloy, Palmers Crescent, Palmerstown, Dublin 20.