Unite warns that if there is nothing on the table for a pay and grading review, further strike action is a certainty.
Unite the union has written to finance minister Caoimhe Archibald to clarify whether her £688 million public sector pay package makes any provision for a six-year overdue pay and grading review sought by striking education workers. The union warned that if there was nothing on the table for low-paid school support staff responsible for the care and safety of special educational needs (SEN) children then a return to strike action was a certainty.
The union represents education workers across a variety of low-paid positions including classroom assistants, bus drivers, bus escorts, catering, admin and other school support staff. Pay rates in 2023-24 for workers who provide personal care to SEN children, including on occasion having to conduct medical and life-saving procedures, can be as low as £11.92 an hour. A recent Unite survey highlighted the huge financial pressures resulting from poor pay.
In 2018 the UK-wide NJC pay body instructed a pay and grading review to be delivered to address the mismatch between responsibilities and pay as well as equality concerns for the overwhelmingly female workforce. In the intervening six years consecutive Stormont executives have failed to deliver this review. Education workers in Unite, have been forced to take strike action repeatedly with the aim of securing funding needed for the pay and grading review, to help address low pay, retention issues and the associated staffing crisis.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned “School support workers were hopeful that the new Stormont executive would progress the long delayed pay and grading review but after weeks of uncertainty there are now growing fears that the funding needed has not been allocated. We need immediate clarity from the finance minister on whether she has provided anything to resolve the dispute of school support staff.
“If she hasnot, it will be a slap in the face for education workers; many of whom have onerous responsibilities for the care of SEN children. Once again, they will be left with no alternative but to return to the picket lines to secure fair pay, respect and to defend a vital public service.”
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