It was another routine day at the ASTI conference yesterday. Two Garda detectives were interviewing a parents' representative about an alleged assault. On RTE's News at One, Charlie Lennon was talking about death threats which have apparently been made against him. And the hacks continued to cluster in groups, lest they be subjected to glowering looks - or worse.
You could say that emotions have been running high.
There was also some light relief and a few jokes. One of the best was about the hacks: Question. What have teachers and education editors got in common? Answer: They both work for the Government. Who says teachers have no sense of humour?
Back in the real world of the conference, ASTI was putting together the much-promised new strategy. "We are invoking the spirit of Gandhi, we are opting for the Gandhi-style option of passive resistance," said one delegate excitedly.
Another said: "We are going to wear down the Government's resistance . . . we will do what we have to do and nothing else. They can get someone else to pick up the slack."
Here's the plan. Once, as now seems certain, ASTI members reject the Labour Court offer, the new plan will swing into action in September. It is back to the future for the ASTI. The exam ban - its prized nuclear option - has been put in cold storage. There will be no all-out strike and no more rolling three-day strikes.
Instead, the union is going back to where its campaign of industrial action began by withdrawing co-operation with the Department of Education, although in a more focused way. Vulnerable exam students and their parents are no longer the target. After losing out so badly in the PR war, the ASTI is wising up and turning its fire exclusively on the Department of Education.
The plan is to break the Government's resistance and bring Michael Woods to his senses by disrupting the regular, daily lives of our schools.
Come September, secondary teachers will fulfil their contractual obligations and no more. In an effective work-to-rule, they will refuse to perform unpaid, voluntary supervision duties and they will refuse to provide short-term cover for absent colleagues.
In practice, this could again close the schools. Last winter, school managers closed most secondary schools on advice from their insurers once ASTI members withdrew from supervision.
The strategy was not viewed as wholly successful. It was widely criticised in the media as a kind of Blue Flu, where teachers turned up for work and expected to be paid for it while students were effectively locked out.
But the ASTI has few other options. It has already played its trump card - the threatened ban on exams - and there are not many left in the deck.
For its part, the Government will hope to call the ASTI's bluff by resolving the supervision issue between now and September. Talks, which will open the way for TUI and INTO members to be, at last, properly paid for these duties will begin shortly. But the ASTI is refusing to attend these meetings.
The union could be left with a difficult dilemma if cash for supervision is on the table for the other teaching unions.
It was clear from the debate that many ASTI members see the new strategy as a messy, imperfect one. But it has few other choices.
"We are ready for a long war of attrition with the Government. It might take time but we will eventually wear down their resistance," said one delegate.
Some of those driving the new strategy are also keeping a weather eye on the political timetable. They believe there is simply no way Bertie Ahern will face into a general election next summer with 17,000 ASTI members in revolt.
But, on the evidence to date, there is no reason for ASTI to be cheerful. The Government has already weathered the considerable storm brewed up by ASTI this winter. Why will the new action break their resolve - especially when the Government is convinced it is has the fair wind of public opinion behind it?
This week's alleged incidents in Galway will have done nothing to help the ASTI muster stronger public support. Many fair-minded people will have been appalled - not just by the alleged incidents, but also by the reaction of some in the union to them.
The union faces one other difficulty; the gathering economic storms. Over the coming months, the Government will be playing up the critical importance of maintaining the partnership approach for the wider good of the economy. Michael Woods has also spoken of how any break in the partnership approach could damage inward investment.
The ASTI can expect to be cast as potential wreckers who represent a threat - not just to partnership but to the entire economy. They will need a strong stomach for the fight. They could do with allies in the wider trade union movement, among the other teaching unions and in the media.
But, despite their strong case for a significant pay increase, their poor tactics have left them more isolated than ever this morning. It is still the ASTI against the world. And few are backing the union to prevail in the battle.