The teacher’s unions in Northern Ireland have rejected a pay offer of 5.5% for the upcoming school year of 2024/25, photojournalist captured a group of people holding various signs to protest that “teachers make your jobs possible” One of the factors that caused contention was the terms of the offer, including workload and strike action. The received offer would have cost the Northern Ireland Executive around £49m. Following the rejection, the unions are set to take action short of strike, affecting school activities such as meetings with parents and administration tasks.
Some teachers have expressed dissatisfaction towards the offer, claiming that it is a workload issue rather than one of pay. The unions had conducted consultations with teachers on the received offer, but unfortunately, it didn’t garner sufficient support for the agreement. Although the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) accepted the agreement, members of other unions did not ratify the offer. The Northern Ireland Teachers Council (NITC) said that although negotiations have failed to resolve the issue, it remains committed to engaging in negotiations for unrestricted pay awards for teachers for 2024/25.
The received offer asked teachers to end industrial action, signalling that schools require stability, but this stipulation comes with the condition that industrial action should only be taken as a last resort, and teachers should be committed to an endeavour free from industrial action within the agreed schedules. The rejection of the offer doesn’t mean that strike actions will resume, but the coordination of action short of a strike. However, no strikes have been announced by the unions to date. According to a communication to members, the NASUWT union said that nearly 80% of 6000 members voted against the received offer, and “action short of strike (ASOS) will commence on Monday 10 February.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
