A strike by teachers across Northern Ireland is expected to see most schools remaining closed until midday on Wednesday. Five unions are taking part in the half-day industrial action, primarily due to a long-standing disagreement over pay, with support staff due to follow suit with a 24-hour strike on Friday. This coincides with a Translink staff strike, implying there could be no bus or train services on that day. Northern Ireland’s teachers have not received a pay increase for almost three years, with many English, Scottish, and Welsh teachers earning thousands of pounds more than their counterparts in Northern Ireland.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) in Northern Ireland is joining the four other unions on strike for the second time this year, having not taken industrial action before in its 126-year history. The half-day strike will be followed by a further four days of industrial action planned for after Christmas. Teachers in further education colleges who are represented by the Northern Ireland Teachers Council (NITC) will also be taking part in the strike. The pay dispute has been ongoing for the past 18 months.
Dr Graham Gault, the Interim National Secretary of the NAHT in Northern Ireland, has told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme that “all the scaffolding around schools to support children has been taken away”. Despite this, the Education Authority (EA) has issued guidance to support schools in managing the impact the strike will have on children and young people. The teachers and lecturers in Northern Ireland are demanding that they be paid the same as their counterparts across the UK and are calling for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to intervene and provide funding for a pay increase.
A spokesperson for the Education Authority stated that it “fully understands the frustration of teachers and school leaders over the ongoing absence of a pay offer”. However, the department has been unable to offer teachers a pay award for the past three years similar to other jurisdictions as it is unaffordable within the insufficient education budget. Members of Unite have agreed to talk to Translink bus and train drivers to obtain a resolution before the forthcoming strike
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