Minister hopeful education support worker strike averted on Tuesday

Education Minister Paul Givan has said he is hopeful that planned strike action will not take place on Tuesday amid ongoing talks with unions.

Action by education support workers planned for Monday was largely suspended to facilitate further talks on pay and grading.

Thousands of non-teaching support staff had been due to strike on Monday and Tuesday.

The Nipsa and GMB unions agreed to suspend action on both days to allow for further discussions on resolving the pay and grading dispute.

A third union, Unite, said it would suspend action on Monday, pending the outcome of negotiations on the same day.

The non-teaching staff, including bus drivers, classroom assistants, and cleaning and canteen staff, took part in three days of action in May.

Nipsa deputy general secretary Patrick Mulholland said a “short window of opportunity” was in place to find a resolution to the dispute.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday, Mr Givan said he engaged with the unions last week, that progress was made over the weekend, and they met again on Monday morning.

He also told MLAs during questions for his department that he engaged directly with Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald, adding that they “identified a way forward that I believe can lead to a successful resolution”.

Mr Givan welcomed that the strike action did not go ahead on Monday, adding there was concern around the impact it would have had on schools, particularly with a GCSE maths exam to be sat.

“There was a concern that we wouldn’t be able to have those exams go forward for everybody and I think everyone in this house would agree that for those young people who have worked so hard not to have the opportunity to sit those exams would have been something that was unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Givan said his meeting with the unions on Monday morning was “very positive”.

“Schools are being contacted by the Education Authority to advise them that strike action shouldn’t be taking place tomorrow (Tuesday), but the unions are still going through officially their processes, but we are operating now on the assumption that schools will be able to open as normal tomorrow,” he said.

“We will continue to work on the finer details of this, because support staff who are in our classrooms, who are in our catering teams, who are driving the buses, are incredibly important, and I deeply value the work that they do.

“It is vitally important that this pay and grading review is resolved and we engage with Treasury, but we also look to our own resources within the Assembly to find a way forward, and I will continue to work constructively with the unions until we get a permanent solution.”