Strike Action: Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, further guidance will be issued from NIC-ICTU in the days ahead.

All INTO members are directed to take strike action.

Taking a full day’s industrial action does not break continuous employment. Members will not, however, accrue service on strike days – service is paused for that day. This will have implications for some teachers in the event of a redundancy.

For strike action, you will lose pay that is equal to the amount of time you strike, for example:

• 1/2-day strike = 1/2-day loss in pay
• one day strike = one day loss in pay

This is essentially calculated based on annual salary rate/365.

For example:

	Salary per annum	One day strike	1/2-day strike
M1	24137	£    66.13	£   33.06
M2	26045	£    71.36	£   35.68
M3	28139	£    77.09	£   38.55
M4	30305	£    83.03	£   41.51
M5	32693	£    89.57	£   44.78
M6	35277	£    96.65	£   48.32
UP1	38216	£  104.70	£   52.35
UP2	39630	£  108.58	£   54.29
UP3	41094	£  112.59	£   56.29

Supply Teachers on NISTR
The calculations for supply teachers booked through NISTR is calculated on 195 days therefore a half day’s pay will be half your daily rate. Likewise, for pension contributions.

Very little – any loss would probably be between £1 and £2.50 a year at most for each day of action taken.

During the period of strike neither the employer nor the employee makes a pension contribution as you are not paid for this period.

A scheme member (someone who pays in at the normal rate) will “bank” into their career average pension pot, 1/57th of their total actual pensionable earnings in the period from 01 April to 31 March.  The amount “banked” in a day would essentially be the calculated daily rate/57.

	Salary per annum	One day's pension contribution	1/2-day strike pension con.
M1	24137	£            1.16	£     0.58
M2	26045	£            1.25	£     0.63
M3	28139	£            1.35	£     0.68
M4	30305	£            1.46	£     0.73
M5	32693	£            1.57	£     0.79
M6	35277	£            1.70	£     0.85
UP1	38216	£            1.84	£     0.92
UP2	39630	£            1.90	£     0.95
UP3	41094	£            1.98	£     0.99

Employees who are absent on account of sickness before industrial action starts will be assumed to be on sick leave, and therefore not on industrial action.

 

In the interest of health and safety, where teachers are on residential trips, they should not engage in strike action.

No. Members are not required to inform school management of their intention to strike.

No. There is no requirement to do so.

INTO Principal members, the same as all other INTO members, are directed to take part in the strike action on 18 January 2024.

It would be advisable to inform the Board of Governors/Employing Authority that you will not be on site on 18 January 2024 in case they need to make arrangements for any staff not involved in industrial action.

In deciding whether the school can accommodate students, principal members should seek advice from their Employing Authority and may be advised to conduct a Risk Assessment.

Teachers and support staff who are not taking industrial action should not be redirected from their usual duties.

Principal members are not entitled to details of the names of staff taking part in strike action.

Yes. All members are encouraged to attend your school picket as on the previous day of action.

Members working at the schools in question can picket their school only.

Members must not, under any circumstances, attend a picket at a school at which they do not work.

This will be determined by the normal opening time of your school. We are encouraging members to picket outside their own place of work starting 15 mins prior to school starting and remain there for an agreed period of time and to allow opportunity to engage with the local community.

Each picket should have a designated Supervisor – this will usually be the school rep. Where more than one union is represented in the school, reps should work together in organising the picket. Picket Supervisors will be given guidance and advice from INTO in advance of the strike days.

Inform INTO office and we will intervene. The principal will be informed that if it continues then the union may have to take targeted strike action in response to the pressure.

No, where an INTO member is supposed to attend training on the day of action then they would not be available on that day.

Most pregnant women can join a strike without affecting their maternity pay, but entitlement to statutory or contractual maternity pay can sometimes be affected by taking strike action. If you have less than a year’s service with your current employer, or if the strike days fall in the eight-week period immediately before the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth.

A teacher’s service is not broken by undertaking strike action provided you work on at least one day that week, but the days on strike are not counted for the purpose of continuity.

During strike action your continuous employment is treated as 'postponed'. This means that the period you were on strike for will not count towards your continuous employment, but it does not break the continuity of your period of employment. In practice, the teacher’s original commencement date of employment is postponed by the number of days strike they were on.

Instead your starting date is treated as being postponed for that number of days. For example, if you started with a new employer on 1 February and over the course of a year you spent five days on strike, your starting date for continuous employment would be 6 February.

The exemptions below apply to the strike action notified to take place on the 18th of January:

• Members who have received a formal notification of redundancy, should contact the INTO office.
• Members taking maternity leave in 2024 with an expected week of childbirth (EWC) in April, May, and June. Members concerned about the impact on their maternity rights should contact INTO Northern Office for individual advice.
• Members who are participating in a prearranged residential or other trip where parents have already paid for the trip in full or part and it is not possible to rearrange the event or provide reimbursement.
• Members who are required to participate by an awarding body in a practical or oral examination which requires a specialist teacher to be present and cannot be rearranged.
• Any requests for exemptions relating to matters not listed above should be made in the first instance to the District CEC Representatives or the INTO Northern Office and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.