PRIMARY TEACHERS are expected to give the Government's pay offer their seal of approval when the results of the INTO's ballot are announced, probably tomorrow.

However, their approbation will be considerably less emphatic than the union leadership had hoped. In Dublin, the traditionally militant north city branch was joined by members in Dublin north-west and Tallaght in rejecting the deal last week; rural branches such as Trim/ Athboy, Co Meath, also voted no.

Given the hostile reaction the offer is receiving from elements within the second-level unions, the future of the £66.7 million package now looks rocky. Even if it is approved by all three unions - the odds are against this - the opposition among many teachers will make the package difficult, if not impossible, to implement.

If the INTO approves the deal, and one or both of the other unions vote it down, all parties will return to the table. The Government will tell the unions that no more money is available, raising the possibility of a partial implementation.

In such a case, the full package might be implemented in primary schools only, so national teachers could end up earning more than their counterparts at second level. Alternatively, individual elements might be introduced - though it is hard to see how this would be acceptable given the Government's demand for increased productivity.

The results of the ballots in the ASTI and TUI will not be known until the end of the month. The leadership in both unions say the package is getting a better reception as members become more acquainted with its contents, but there still seems to be widespread resistance.

Among the issues raised by opponents to the deal are: resentment towards principals who, it is claimed, will gain significantly yet won't have to deliver extra productivity; the contracts attached to the new posts of responsibility, said to be "open-ended" complaints by TUI members that the work they have put in on new programmes such as the LCAP and the Transition Year has not been recognised as extra productivity.

Within the TUI, a row is raging over the executive's 12-to-9 decision to recommend the package. Opponents claim the result would have been 8-7 against the deal if the vote had been confined to second-level members. However, TUI president Tony Deffely said these claims were "divisive gossip". He declined to divulge how he himself had voted on the matter, but said he was "100 per cent" behind the deal.