NI Teachers Announce Strike Action For 26 April

Teachers from five teaching unions across NI have announced that they will take strike action on Wednesday 26 April, over the failure to offer teachers and Further Education lecturers a fair and decent pay award.

The strike action follows a half day of strike action in schools on the 21 February and coincides with a further escalation of action short of strike action which began in schools on 3 April.

NASUWT members in Northern Ireland's Further Education colleges will join their school teacher colleagues in taking strike action.

The Union has announced the full day of strike in furtherance of our campaigns for a Better Deal for Teachers and Lecturers.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said: "Neither the school or college employers have made a satisfactory pay and conditions offer to teachers and lecturers. This has left teachers and lecturers with no choice but to take further industrial action.

"At a time when teachers and lecturers are facing the biggest squeeze on their finances in a generation, offering a further real-terms pay cut is unacceptable.

"Our members are not prepared to stand by while their pay dwindles and their living costs rise.

"The Department of Education and the Department for Economy along with the employers must bring forward a substantially improved pay offer if they want to see an end to these disputes."

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT National Official Northern Ireland, said: "Our members would rather be in their schools and colleges working with their students, but have had no option but to take this action in order to stand up for their right to a salary which reflects the skilled and difficult work they do and which enables them to weather the cost of living crisis.

"The current pay offers are simply insufficient. Teachers and lecturers are not willing to accept yet another real-terms pay cut and are continuing to fight for a better deal.

"There is intense frustration among teachers and lecturers that they are continuing to be asked to do more for less, while class sizes increase, budgets are cut and support services are withdrawn.

"The cost of living crisis has brought this situation to a head and unless the Departments and employers act to offer teachers and lecturers a fair and decent pay award we cannot rule out further strike action in the months to come."

Strike action by teachers can be avoided by reaching a fair pay agreement, SDLP Education Spokesperson Daniel McCrossan has said.

Mr McCrossan was speaking after five teaching unions confirmed a full day of strike action on April 26.

Mr McCrossan said teachers should not have to take such drastic action to get the pay rise they deserve.

West Tyrone MLA Mr McCrossan said: "The SDLP stands fully behind our teachers and their unions who have taken this very difficult decision to hold a full day of strike action as they continue their fight for fair pay and working conditions. No teacher wants to find themselves in this position, but their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears. That the National Association of Head Teachers has taken the decision to strike for the first time in their 125-year history says everything about how serious this situation is.

"Teachers and their unions have been fighting for fair pay for years as their jobs get harder and harder due to repeated cuts to our education budget. They are not immune from the cost of living emergency hurting everyone in the North and many are finding it a real struggle to keep their heads above water, with a massive decrease in their real-terms salary over the last decade.

"This situation could have been resolved long ago had employers and the government listened to teachers and taken their concerns seriously. We cannot allow our children and young people's education to be disrupted as a result of this strike action and I would urge fresh negotiations to begin to avert this strike action and reach an agreement that values the contributions of our teachers and other education staff."