20th February 2023
INTO members, teachers and school leaders across every sector and stage of education will withdraw their labour on Tuesday, February 21st for a half day to encourage their employers and the Department of Education to the negotiating table. These same teachers and school leaders have been waiting for a pay rise for over a year and they like workers across the private and public sectors are suffering from a cost-of-living crisis which they didn’t cause.
Gerry Murphy, Northern Secretary of INTO commenting on the forthcoming strike said:
“The decision to strike is one INTO members have not rushed into, indeed all the recognised teacher trade unions have been very careful to manage this dispute in a way to minimise the disruption to the education of the children and young people in their care. The harm being wrought across the education system due to systematic underfunding over the past decade is the real threat to the future of our children and young people. Decisions being made in London on public spending are clearly political and aimed not at improving and developing the education available to our children and young people but rather about trying to recoup the losses this Tory government has caused with over a decade of incompetent rule.
INTO members and their colleagues in the other recognised teacher unions have had enough. Enough of being forced to accept salaries that have not increased in real terms over the last 15 years, enough of increased workloads, enough of being forced to compensate for lack of resourcing and support for those in their care. Teachers are reasonable and sensible people and when they are moved to take strike action then government should listen. The five recognised teachers’ unions are working together to achieve a decent and fair pay rise for all teachers and school leaders. These efforts are in line with the demands of the wider trade union movement and are part of an increasingly co-ordinated and robust trade union response to an absent administration at Stormont and Tory contempt for working people.
Come out on Tuesday the 21st of February and join with the teachers and the school leaders and demonstrate that you support a fair pay rise for the people who are securing your childrens’ and society’s future. Demonstrate that you support an increased budget for education and demand your children and their teachers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”