Unions recommend school staff to back pay offer

Classroom assistants, bus drivers and canteen staff have been among those taking strike action

Trade unions Nipsa and Unison say they will encourage their members to accept a new pay deal.

An offer will be made to Northern Ireland school support workers, including bus drivers, classroom assistants and canteen staff, who have gone on strike in recent months.

Education Minister Paul Givan described the proposal as a "significant step forward in getting a resolution".

The staff members have been in a long-running dispute over pay and job grading.

The industrial action has caused disruption to some schools although the most recent planned strike was called off.

It is anticipated that the unions will now ballot their members on whether to accept the new offer.

The proposal, which would affect about 20,000 staff, includes the regrading of staff, backdated to 1 April, and a one-off lump sum payment of £2,500 to every member of staff, coming in the next financial year.

Paul Givan said that the proposal was a "significant step forward"

Speaking on the BBC's Nolan Show, Mr Givan said the new pay offer recognises that support staff are "absolutely critical" but that "many of them are the lowest paid".

He further noted that "the ability to recruit and retain these staff was very challenging for our schools".

Mr Givan told the Nolan Show that a business case to fund a pay offer had been approved by the finance minister and that an application had been made to the Treasury in London to fund the proposal.

"But because of the election being called, we haven't had a response from the treasury and I went about trying to find an alternative solution," he said.

"And while we will still continue to pursue the Treasury, we have found a way forward."

'We are recommending a road map'

Nipsa general secretary, Patrick Mulholland said they are recommending acceptance

Patrick Mulholland, the deputy general secretary of trade union Nipsa, said it was a “substantial offer”.

"We are very clear when we are recommending acceptance what we are really recommending is a road map and a way forward," Mr Mulholland said.

"That roadmap includes seeking additional funding from Treasury so the full and substantive offer could be applied right across education."

Mr Mulholland acknowledged that the assembly has "constraints" on its budget and that "they probably have maxed out those constraints".

“It is through a process of industrial action, campaigning and engagement that we have moved this process on,” he told the Nolan Show.

'We want to hold them to that promise'

Unison says up to 10,000 of its members work in education support roles and will be affected by the proposals.

Anne Speed, head of bargaining and representation at Unison NI, said it is recommending acceptance of the proposals.

Unison plan to share information with its members in the coming days before holding a vote.

Anne Speed said she wanted to “remind all the politicians that they pledged support to the education support workers over the past few months and now we want to hold them to that promise”.

The pay deal put forward by education minister Paul Givan is contingent on funding being approved and secured.

The re-grading of staff will cost the Northern Ireland Executive £52m and is to be funded through the June monitoring round.

This is when some money carried over from last year, additional money from Westminster and the start of a new 'top-up’ procedure for Stormont’s budget is allocated.

The one-off payment would cost the executive about £80m.