Striking education workers demand action over pay

SEVERAL hundred non-teaching staff at schools throughout West Tyrone took to the picket line on Thursday in a massive strike over pay.

Members of Unison, NIPSA, Unite the Union and the GMB Union held posters highlighting their demands at various locations across Tyrone, including Arvalee School and Resource Centre, Holy Family Primary School and at the Education Authority (EA) headquarters in Omagh.

The strike was described as the biggest that the EA had seen for years. It was estimated that around 2,500 classroom assistants, drivers, catering staff, caretakers, cleaners, technicians and bus escorts participated across the North.

Janice Walsh, from NIPSA, was on the picket line at the Arvalee School and Resource Centre on the Gortin Road in Omagh. She said there was a ‘loud and clear message’ coming from its members to the NI Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris, and the Department of Education.

“We are out here on a number of issues and our message is that enough is enough. There is a pay and grading review which was picked up last year and the EA met with the trade unions and now it has been sitting on the Department’s desk for almost a year now,” she said.

“For the past 15 years, we have had members who have taken on extra responsibility, yet aren’t being properly renumerated. The Department will have £200 million of a shortfall, there will be 6,000 job losses potentially and our members want the Department of Education and the Secretary of State to get all these issues and more sorted.”

Louise O’Hara, from Unison, said the picket lines in Omagh and elsewhere across the North were ‘incredibly important’.

“We are seeing huge numbers who have been waiting far too long on this pay and grading review to make sure that we are appropriately paid for the work that we do. It is just so important,” she added.

Stephanie Kennedy, education branch secretary of the Devenish and Sperrin Branch of Unison, which covers Omagh, said they were extremely pleased by the numbers who had supported the strike.

“We have been seeking this pay review since 2019. It’s time that the EA started listening to us,” she said.