A high-level Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (Asti) committee has been set up to advise teachers on the implications of signing up to phase two of the Sustaining Progress national pay deal, under which they are due to receive cumulative pay rises of some 6 per cent - or between €2,500 and €3,000 on average - this year alone.
The move means a national ballot of its 17,000 members will not now take place until after the Asti's annual conference at Easter.
The second phase of Sustaining Progress for teachers, which the other two teaching unions, the INTO and the TUI, have already signed up to, provides for pay increases of 1.5 per cent in June of this year, 1.5 per cent in December, and a further 2.5 per cent in June 2006.
Under phase one of the agreement, teachers are also entitled to a 3.25 per cent increase under benchmarking, also due to be paid in June of this year.
Asti members may not be guaranteed this payment if they do not approve phase two of the pay deal, as this would be an unprecedented situation and one not strictly provided for under the agreement. But it is widely expected that members will accept phase two of the deal - although some within the union are expected to strongly campaign against it.
Because the Asti is no longer affiliated to Ictu, it is not included in the latter's decision last year to accept phase two of Sustaining Progress. As a result, a separate offer was made to the Asti. However, the deadline set by the Department of Education and Science for formal acceptance of this offer was the end of this month.
This means the Asti will not now meet the deadline - and throws open the possibility that its members will not receive their full pay increases in June, regardless of the outcome of the national ballot.
A meeting of the central executive committee (CEC) of the Asti this weekend voted 111-24 in favour of a motion to put the issue of phase two of Sustaining Progress to a nationwide ballot of its members, as is required under union rules.
A second motion, calling for a subcommittee to be set up to compile an information document to be distributed to members in advance of the ballot was also approved by a clear majority.
This will include Asti president Susie Hall, acting general secretary John White and another high-profile member, Bernadine O'Sullivan.
The move to issue an information document to Asti members means a decision on the date of the ballot will probably be taken at a meeting of the CEC immediately after the union's annual conference. The contents of the document will also be decided at this.