THE STANDING COMMITTEE of teachers’ union the ASTI is due to meet today to discuss the outcome of its ballot on Friday and decide on the next step after members rejected the Haddington Road public sector pay deal.

The union represents 17,000 second-level teachers and 63 per cent of its members voted to reject the agreement with 65 per cent voting in favour of industrial action up to and including a strike.

A spokesperson for the union told TheJournal.ie that an announcement is due today after the discussions and strike is a real possibility though it would be a reluctant move.

“On the ballot, it asked are you willing to take industrial action and gave some examples like work-to-rule but also included strike,” they said. “All kinds of considerations have to be discussed and there’s a possibility that it’ll be a programme of action rather than one particular action – so it would begin with one and then perhaps escalate.”

The committee will meet at the ASTI offices in Dublin at 11am this morning.

Related: ASTI chief: Teachers have had enough>

More: ASTI reject Haddington Road agreement, vote for industrial action>

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