Thousands of education workers take part in first day of walkouts
Thousand of education support workers have taken part in the first of three days of planned strike action.
Non-teaching staff, including bus drivers, classroom assistants, cleaning and canteen staff, are also set to strike across Tuesday and Wednesday, and will take part in two further days of action in June.
The Department of Education has warned that the strikes will have a “significant detrimental impact” on children.
James Curran, principal of Harberton Special School in Belfast, told the BBC the school had to close one of its campuses due to the industrial action.
The trade unions Unite, GMB and Nipsa represent the workers taking part in the strike action.
On Monday, Nipsa said that if the pay and grading review, previously agreed with the employer, is not implemented there will be an escalation in the action in September, and up to 20,000 Education Authority members from across the unions could take part in strike action.
Raymond Caldwell, a bus driver at the Aughnacloy Transport Depot and member of Nipsa, pressed for the implementation of the review.
“Inflation has eaten into our pay. I’m only getting about £12 an hour. It’s not good enough if you want to make a decent living,” he said.
“There’s a lot of responsibility in our job. You really have a lot of people behind you relying on you. This review was agreed so why has it not been paid? We’ve been ignored yet again.”
Patrick Mulholland, Nipsa deputy general secretary, insisted the dispute was in the hands of the Government to resolve.
“The pay and grading review was consulted on and agreed with the Education Authority and should have been implemented,” he said.
“Instead, our members, and all the other low paid education support staff have been left in limbo and told there is no money to put it in place.
“These vital workers, essential to the daily operation of our schools and who provide a lifeline to the children across the country, are expected to get on with it and accept poverty pay.
“This clearly cannot continue, and a massive escalation of the strike action is likely to take place in early September if a resolution is not found urgently.
“The minister and his colleagues in Stormont need to secure the funding necessary to implement this agreed review and to start to rectify the growing crisis in our education system.”
In an earlier statement, a spokesperson for the department of education said the Education Minister Paul Givan recognises “the vital contribution made by our support staff”, adding he “agrees they deserve to be paid appropriately for the important jobs they do”.
They contended the minister bid for the £180 million that would be required to implement the pay and grading review but was unsuccessful due to the other competing pressures.
“They (Stormont Executive) agreed that the Minister of Finance (Caoimhe Archibald) should seek approval from HM Treasury to bring forward funding from future years to enable implementation,” they added.