Glenveagh School: Strike to close Belfast special school for a week

Most of the classroom assistants at Glenveagh School are set to strike

A Belfast special school is set to close to pupils for a week due to strike action by the Unite union.

Glenveagh School has written to parents to tell them pupils cannot attend from Thursday 15 June until 23 June.

About 700 members of Unite who work for the Education Authority (EA) are set to strike.

They are taking action over what they said was the failure to implement a review which would have led to "significant increases" in pay.

The EA has warned schools that some buses and meals services will also be affected by the industrial action.

But as most of the classroom assistants in Glenveagh are set to strike, the school has written to parents to tell them that "because of the degree of staffing deficiency and associated risks" pupils will not be able to attend for a week.

"We understand that this is difficult for pupils and families," the letter said.

"Should the situation be resolved at any stage, we will of course immediately resume face-to-face learning."

One parent told BBC News NI they were "dreading what will happen" if the school closes

Glenveagh School has pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties aged between eight and 19.

The school was also forced to close by previous Unite strike action in March 2022.

At that time, some parents of pupils had offered to stay in school themselves so that their children could attend again.

One parent who contacted BBC News NI about the latest potential closure said they were "dreading what will happen next week".

Members of Unite were on strike in 2022 over a local government pay offer of 1.75%.

'Punitive budget'

In a statement announcing the latest action, Unite said more than 90% of its members in the EA had voted for strike action.

"Unite's membership includes school bus drivers, escorts and maintenance workers, catering staff, classroom assistants, playground supervisors, school administrative staff, cleaners, building supervisors and ground maintenance staff," the statement said.

"The ballot was taken in response to the failure of the Department of Education to fund a pay-and-grading review in which Unite the union had engaged at the invitation of the Education Authority.

"The review reached a consensus on a business case which would see significant increases to the pay of Education Authority workers.

"However, when it was submitted to the Department of Education by the Education Authority it has not been implemented - primarily as a result of the punitive budget set for the department by the secretary of state for Northern Ireland."

In the statement the general secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham, criticised Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for setting "a completely inadequate budget for Northern Ireland's public services".

• Lack of NI special school places is 'appalling'

• Parents offer help so strike-hit school can reopen

The education budget was cut this year, and the funding schools received for each pupil frozen.

In its letter about the strike to school principals, the EA said that while Translink services, private hire bus services and taxis would not be affected, some authority-run buses would be.

"We are anticipating disruption to EA [yellow] bus services across the network during the period of industrial action," the letter said.

"Catering staff may participate in the action and, as a result, there may not be meals available for some pupils, in localised areas," it continued.

The EA also said it was "continuing to engage with Unite the Union to seek exemptions from the latest strike action to minimise the disruption to our children and young people as far as possible".

However, the EA did not give details of what exemptions it had sought.