School strikes suspended after “very positive” talks

A third union has suspended all strike action in schools while talks continue to resolve a long-simmering dispute over the pay of school support staff.

The Unite union confirmed the move on Monday evening.

Previously, the unions Nipsa and GMB had agreed to suspend all strikes scheduled for Monday and Tuesday over the weekend.

The strikers included bus drivers, classroom assistants, cleaners and catering staff.

Stormont’s Education Minister Paul Givan had previously said that talks with the unions had been very positive.

The schools have been contacted by the Education Department to inform them that there will be no strike action on Tuesday, he added.

The news of the suspension of the Nipsa and GMB strike only came on Saturday, so many parents had already made other plans.

One self-employed mother told the BBC she had lost a day’s wages because she had canceled all her clients.

It is estimated that a strike by around 8,000 teachers was planned to coincide with the GCSE and A-Level exams.

Megan Patchett, a self-employed mother of three, said the strikes had been “extremely stressful” for her family.

Her sons Tyler and Cody, who have been diagnosed with autism and severe learning disabilities, attend a special school. She said they are very “routinely involved.”

“As soon as we know there is a strike, we have to inform them immediately because they know they get up every day, get dressed and go to school,” she said.

They could suffer “severe nervous breakdowns” and their routine would be disrupted, she said.

Ms Patchett said she had cancelled her client appointments for Monday and because the strike was called off at the last minute, she was unable to rebook the appointments.

However, Ms Patchett said she supported the striking school staff.

“Caring for children with special needs is a very hard job. I rely on the staff and have to trust them. I think they should be paid a lot more for their work,” she said.

Roberta Watson works at Rossmar Special School in Limavady, County Londonderry and has been a classroom assistant for 23 years.

“At the moment I don’t have a lunch break or a tea break because many of the children I work with have complex needs,” she said.

“If an employee is absent, there is no replacement.

“We always have to carry walkie-talkies with us at school because we have to be on call all the time, even when I’m in the bathroom.

“I love my job, but at the end of the day I am mentally exhausted.”

According to Watson, many people who work as teaching assistants are paid so poorly that they have to take on additional work to make ends meet.

Kerry McGuiness, who also works at Rossmar, has been a teaching assistant for 25 years and said the current working conditions are incredibly difficult.

“We love what we do, we love these children as our own, but we have so much to do,” she said.

“I know that there are employees who find it very difficult and who suffer psychologically as a result.”

In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster on Monday, Nipsa’s Patrick Mulholland described the issue of education pay as “a very long and convoluted issue that has become caught up in the political crisis in Northern Ireland”.

School support staff also took part in two days of strikes in May.