25th January 2023
With the announcement today of a ½ day strike by teachers on the 21st February 2023, INTO fully expects that its membership, having endorsed the action through a strike ballot, will withdraw their labour from schools for the half-day before returning to their normal afternoon duties.
Gerry Murphy, INTO’s Northern Secretary speaking about the announcement of strike action said:
“INTO has always been to the fore in improving and protecting its members’ contractual rights and promoting their entitlement to a fair and just pay settlement which is at the heart of this dispute. Everyone knows that strike action is a last resort and something that trade unions always try to avoid but our members have voted in favour of strike action because they believe that this action is the only option they have available to send a clear message that they have, since 2010 endured a continual erosion of the real value of their pay which has, in fact, amounted to a 20% pay cut. This simply cannot continue. Our members rightly expect that their pay and conditions should not, especially during a cost-of-living crisis, be further eroded. Their pay should not only keep pace with the double figure inflation rate but must reflect our members’ contribution to society.
The Department of Education needs to wake up and see that this reduction of pay has led to a crisis in recruitment and retention in education. More teachers and school leaders are leaving the profession and with the serious underfunding in education, employers are struggling to replace them.”
Mr Murphy went on to say:
“This crisis is such that all of the teachers’ unions at the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council are totally united in respect of fair pay and while we, along with our sister unions, have announced this half-day of action, we once again call upon the different employing authorities, and the Department of Education, to engage with the Department of Finance to achieve a fair and just resolution through joined-up thinking and dialogue. Surely the Department of Education cannot ignore the frustration and anger of our membership who are faced with the same escalating costs as other workers across the North.
While this action is a last resort for our members, they are at the stage where they feel they must escalate their stand against the underfunding education and devaluing of the profession which has decimated their pay and continues to negatively impact on the quality of educational provision available to our young people.”
Concluding Mr Murphy said:
“Instead of penny-pinching education budgets and children’s curriculum recovery needs, the proper finances to ensure that the needs of education are accounted for needs to be put in palace. Surely the children and their educators deserve better.”