14th January 2025
The Northern Ireland Teachers Council entered a pay claim in June 2024.
In August 2024, the STRB recommended that teachers in England should receive a pay uplift of 5.5%; this was accepted by the British Government and fully funded.
At the INTO local branch meetings last term, members made clear to officials and Northern Committee members present, the strength of their feelings that they had not been awarded the same pay as that which had been given to their English counterparts. There were numerous calls, in the face of the silence coming from the Minister’s Office, for the INTO to ballot members on this issue, to try to persuade the Education Minister, Paul Givan to make the same award, or better, to teachers here.
Led by members’ depth of feeling towards the current pay disparity, the Northern Committee, at its November 2024 meeting, voted to ballot INTO members for ASOS and Strike Action on pay. This was overwhelmingly ratified by the governing body, the Central Executive Committee.
Ballot papers were sent to members, the first line of which explained to members exactly what the purpose of the ballot was:
“Given that the Department of Education has failed to bring forward an adequate offer in relation to resolving the issue of teachers’ pay, the Central Executive Committee of INTO has taken the decision to ballot all of our members within the Educational Sector in Northern Ireland for Industrial Action”
INTO members sent back a resounding return – 97.27% of INTO members voting in favour of Industrial Action on the issue of pay.
In response to this huge vote, members were issued on Monday, 6 January 2025 with details of ASOS, due to commence on Monday, 13 January. At a meeting of the Teachers Pay Group on 9 January, the Union Side received a request from Management Side to postpone ASOS for a period of four weeks to enable intensified negotiations on pay,– in accordance with Article 117 (1) (b) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (NI) Order 1995. The threat of ASOS by the four teaching unions has brought about negotiations with a definite time frame of four weeks.
The ASOS, which the ballot gave a mandate for, has not been cancelled; it is suspended.
Should these four weeks of negotiation not secure a resolution to the pay dispute, the INTO will be in a position to reactivate ASOS. This suspension allows room for negotiations to take place, in good faith.
INTO leaders and negotiators are working hard to secure the best deal for our members, and we believe this is the best path available to achieve it.
Whilst the industrial action is based on the pay claim, workload remains a priority for INTO members and leadership. Negotiating mechanisms are in place to allow for workload to be addressed and INTO are determined to pursue this in the short, medium and long term with a view to making lasting positive change for our members.
Mark McTaggart
Northern Secretary