Unite the union has served notice to the education authority of further strike dates over the next three weeks.
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The workers will take eight days of strike action beginning on Wednesday 17 January.
Unite members in the education authority who are paid under the NJC scale (the overwhelming majority) will be on strike on the following dates on Wednesday 17, Thursday 18 and Friday 19thJanuary; Wednesday 24th, Thursday 25th and Friday 26th January; and Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd February.
The industrial action which will involve approximately 800 Unite members represents an escalation of ongoing industrial dispute seeking implementation of a pay and grading review which will help address the chronic issue of low pay among education support staff.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The funding to deliver the pay and grading review is available but it is being withheld by the secretary of state for Northern Ireland. It is disgraceful that workers’ pay is being used as a political bargaining tool.
“The school support staff have the full and continuing support of Unite in their struggle to improve pay and secure fairness.â€
Unite’s members in the education authority are concentrated in various roles including: school bus transport, catering, admin, cleaning, classroom assistants. The strikes are likely to cause significant disruption across many schools.
The NJC pay settlement of 2018 instructed that there should be a pay and grading review but this was not implemented.
Following strike action by Unite members in the education authority in 2022, a consensus between unions and employer representatives was reached for its implementation but has not been delivered since.
Lead regional officer for the education authority Kieran Ellison said, “The education authority was instructed to implement the pay and grading review in 2018 but it has failed to deliver. This has already resulted in strike action in 2022.
Members have been waiting far too long. We need to see delivery for our members.
“This review should provide a fair and equal pay structure but also a much needed improvement for some of the lowest paid workers. The actions of the secretary of state in recent weeks show that the money is there. That funding must now be released regardless of whether a Stormont executive is re-established or not.†■