That was provocative. Dr Woods has wrong-footed the moderates and played into the hands of the militants. Much though he and his Cabinet colleagues might piously wring their hands over the apparently unique unreasonableness of ASTI, the fact remains that the secondary teachers are but the latest in a line of public service groups who have flexed their muscles. The nurses, for example, resorted to militancy to breach national pay norms and won. And the Government cravenly went along with the settlement.
Teaching is ultimately the most important vocation of all.
The teachers' case is no less just than the nurses'. However, their tactics, like that of the nurses who picketed hospitals, are misguided. Thirty per cent is at first sight a preposterous demand. At the very least, it suggests negligence by ASTI pay negotiators over the years. Yet as an opening negotiating figure, as distinct from a final demand, it is not necessarily unreasonable.