Sir, - As an ASTI member and former central executive committee representative I am stunned at the inept leadership which our executive and standing committee have displayed in the current dispute. The impetus for our claim came from the real and now acknowledged sense that teachers pay had fallen behind other sectors and that their rewards needed to be adjusted to reflect the changed needs of the job. However, there seems to have been no clear strategy behind our actions other than a determination to use the strike and exam-ban weapons. From the moment the decision was taken to leave the ICTU our action has been doomed to failure. We willingly cut ourselves off from our natural allies in the wider trade union movement and also our colleagues in the teaching profession. This mistake was compounded by the decision to reject the PPF.
Perhaps we hoped it would collapse. Unfortunately for us, it didn't, and we found ourselves on a collision course with the Government, our former friends and allies, our students and their parents. In essence, we were led up a cul-de-sac with no thought for how we might get out. There seems to be no appreciation at standing committee of the stark realities of the position in which we now find ourselves. Surely it has not escaped the committee's notice that anarchy is now spreading through our schools, we have absolutely no support among the wider public, the trade union movement has come out against the granting of any concessions to us and the Government is more determined than ever not to give in. We have been reduced to the status of spoilt children screaming to have our own way and frustrated by the fact that people cannot and will not give in to us. Your Education Editor has referred to ASTI as a dangerous cabal controlled by a group of malcontents. Our actions to date would seem to bear this out. Whether we like it or not, we have fought a hard fight and lost. It is now time for the standing committee to show some real leadership, call off this futile and divisive campaign and accept that what is good enough for everyone else is also good enough for the ASTI. It might also restore some sense of democracy to our union by allowing the ordinary members to have a say on the Labour Court recommendation. - Yours, etc.,
John Nicholl, MA, HDE, Leixlip, Co Kildare.