Schools face transport disruption due to Unite union strike
- Published
There will be disruption to school transport on Monday because of strike action
Planned strike action from Monday will cause disruption to school buses, meals and staffing, the Education Authority (EA) has warned.
Special schools are likely to be particularly affected, with at least one telling parents it cannot provide teaching in school on Monday.
Members of the Unite union are taking strike action in a dispute over pay.
Meanwhile, the NASUWT teaching union is to ballot its members for industrial action.
Members will vote for strike action due to issues over pay, workload and working conditions.
Teaching unions in Northern Ireland recently rejected as "inadequate" a two-year pay offer for the years from 2021 to 2023.
Unite members in councils, the EA and some schools and further education (FE) colleges are due to take a week of strike action from Monday.
The union said a local government pay offer of 1.75% was a "real terms pay cut" due to a surge in the cost of living.
The EA said school transport, school meals and youth services would face disruption as a result.
It has asked parents to consider "alternative arrangements" to get children to school and provide them with lunch.
"Disruption to EA (yellow) bus services will be localised but we are anticipating particular disruption to services operating in the greater Belfast area, as well as Antrim and Newtownabbey, and Mid and East Antrim council areas from 21-25 March," the EA said.
Translink services and private hire bus and taxis will not be directly affected, but EA transport to some rural schools could also be hit.
"There may be some disruption to the availability of meals in some schools," the EA also said.
"We are working closely with schools and have asked them to notify parents where possible if meals will not be served."
If meals are not available, the EA said it would deliver packed lunches to pupils entitled to free school meals.
The authority said there could also be some disruption to schools, especially special schools.
That is because many special school pupils rely on EA buses and also some classroom assistants who are members of Unite may also be on strike.
School closure
One special school in Belfast has already written to the parents of its pupils to tell them it would not be able to provide in-school teaching on Monday.
Glenveagh Special School in south Belfast said the decision followed "a comprehensive risk assessment to determine the impact of the strike action".
"We have concluded that due to lack of staffing, we will unfortunately be unable to safely provide face-to-face teaching and support for pupils on Monday," the letter to parents said.
The school said it would provide remote learning for pupils or send work home for them instead.
Glenveagh also said it would make a decision on Monday about the rest of the week, but told parents they may need to make their own transport arrangements and send a packed lunch for their child if they were coming into school.
Seamus Flannigan, whose 14-year-old son Eoghan attends Glenveagh, said while it was frustrating as a parent, it was his son who would suffer the most.
"Eoghan is severely autistic, he has severe learning difficulties, ADHD, he's non-verbal, so communication with him requires a one-to-one at all times," he said.
"Any deviations from his routine, he gets very upset about it."
He said his son required 24/7 care and he had no danger awareness, "so you can't take your eyes off him for a second".
He will try to take time off work or make alternative care arrangements for Eoghan.
"We're kind of in limbo for the rest of the week," he added.