Hundreds of secondary schools could be facing a fresh wave of strikes in September if secondary teachers reject the revised set of proposals from the Labour Court.
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) is considering the proposals, which do not include an "upfront" payment for teachers.
The union will ballot its 17,000 members at the end of the month following its annual conference in Galway.
The ASTI general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, said yesterday if members voted against the proposals the only option appeared to be resuming "intensive" industrial action in May or September.
He said the union's central executive council would make the ultimate decision, although it could put any decision to a wider ballot.
He said if the union accepted the Labour Court proposals, entering the benchmarking process along with the other two teacher unions might be an option, but at this stage the union was firmly against it.
He said ASTI members, after the conference, would be voting only on the Labour Court proposals, not on industrial action. He said any industrial action would be handled separately.
The union is holding the main pay debate at its conference in private. Mr Lennon said many members were already familiar with the terms of the Labour Court package and were briefed at a series of regional information meetings.
"I'm sure members will want to air their views in the normal way, but between the information meetings and other local branch meetings, many people will be all `talked out' on these proposals," he said at a press briefing yesterday.
He said teachers were currently involved in the exam process, although there had been a "drop-off" in the numbers coming forward.