Unite strike: Special schools and transport face more disruption

Unite workers went on strike for a week last month

Some school transport and special schools face disruption on Friday due to strike action by the Unite union.

Members of Unite who work for the Education Authority (EA) are striking over pay.

Glenveagh Special School in Belfast has told parents that it has "no option" but for pupils to remain at home as a result.

The union also said it is likely there will be "considerable disruption" to school transport in some areas.

Members of Unite are taking action over a local government pay offer of 1.75%, which the union has called a "real terms pay cut".

Inflation in the UK is rising at its fastest rate for 30 years as fuel, energy and food costs surge.

Unite is one of the largest public sector unions, and its members in councils, the Education Authority and the Housing Executive recently took strike action for a week from 21 March to 27 March.

Its members who work for the EA are taking a further day of strike action on Friday 1 April.

In a statement, Kieran Ellison from Unite said the EA needed to make a "realistic" pay offer.

"Full responsibility for this lies with the Education Authority who have failed to make any response even after the first week of strike action," he said.

"We are calling on them to come forward with a realistic pay offer to address our members' pay expectations."

• Union 'wouldn't exempt special schools' from strike

Some Education Authority 'yellow bus' drivers, school meals staff and classroom assistants are members of Unite.

Transport to some special schools is likely to be particularly affected as many pupils rely on EA buses to get to school.

But Glenveagh Special School has told parents that almost all of its "non-teaching" staff including classroom assistants will not be in school on Friday.

"The support staff in Glenveagh bring immeasurable value to the children with whom they work and are critical to the safe operation of the school," a letter from the school said.

"We fully respect their right to engage in industrial action."

But the letter said Glenveagh had "a vastly higher number of support staff" who were members of Unite than other schools.

"It is anticipated that less than 1% of our non-teaching staff will be in attendance on Friday," the letter said.

"We simply cannot safely provide face-to-face teaching for pupils in these circumstances.

"We understand that this will cause further disruption to our pupils and families."

Unite, which also took action in March, says the EA needs to make a "realistic" pay offer

The school also urged the EA and the union to "engage in discussions" to resolve the situation and warned parents the school may be affected by further strike action in the future.

There will be 15 Unite picket lines across Northern Ireland at some schools and other EA buildings.

The EA said that they had again asked Unite for exemptions from the strike action for special school staff, and for drivers transporting pupils to special schools, to minimise the disruption to children and young people.

"However, these latest requests were considered and not accepted," the EA said.

In a statement, the EA's director of human resources, Clare Duffield, said the national pay deal had already been accepted by the majority of trade unions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"Therefore, local government organisations, including the EA, do not have the power or authority to renegotiate this for Northern Ireland," she said.

"This being the case, I remain very concerned about the disproportionate impact the industrial action is having on children, particularly those with special educational needs, and would call upon Unite to reconsider putting in place exemptions for special school staff and transport."