Teachers and civil servants in Northern Ireland are striking today in what trade unions have described as the biggest industrial action in more than a decade.
All five teaching unions in Northern Ireland are involved, with the NAHT school leaders’ union striking over pay for the first time in its history.
Most schools are closed today day as a result of the action.
Nipsa, the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, says the strike is taking place amid a steep fall in public service pay, a budget crisis and a cost-of-living crisis that is hitting the poorest hardest.
Yesterday, it emerged that no new school buildings or school extensions will be started in 2023-24 due to cuts to the education budget. Work already begun will continue but there will be no new building.
A number of other education support schemes in Northern Ireland have been paused or scrapped in recent weeks.
Teaching unions had submitted a 2022-23 pay claim for a “cost-of-living increase” of inflation plus 2 per cent, in addition to the 2021-22 pay claim of 6 per cent, which has yet to be resolved.
At a strike rally in Belfast today, the NASUWT teaching union national official for Northern Ireland, Justin McCamphill, said: “It is simply unacceptable that a teacher in Northern Ireland receives the lowest pay of any teacher in these islands. A teacher in Northern Ireland is worth as much as one in Scotland, Wales or England.”
More than 50 public bodies, including the Education Authority (EA), have said that key services are being put at risk by the lack of a Stormont budget.
The Public Sector Chairs’ Forum has written to Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris calling on him to provide a manageable way forward for public services.
The pause in new school building work was revealed in a letter to principals from the Department for Education.
The DfE’s director of investment and infrastructure, Dr Suzanne Kingon, said a reduced capital budget and rising construction costs would mean extremely difficult decisions, and that indicative funding for the department’s 2023-24 capital budget was down to £180 million.
“Regrettably, the funding we have available is about £7.5 million less than last year and we are continuing to encounter unprecedented increases in construction market prices,” she said.
“At a time when a single new build post-primary school may cost upwards of £40 million, you will appreciate an education capital budget of £180 million cannot deliver all that we would hope across a schools’ estate consisting of 1,121 schools.
“The demands on the budget far exceed funding available and we are, therefore, having to make extremely difficult decisions about how best to target this funding both in the current year and going forward.”
She added: “At present, we are also unable to fund other important capital priorities, such as the rollout of digital devices for pupils in need as envisaged in the Fair Start Programme and the continued replacement of the Education Authority bus fleet.”
The department had planned to provide about 16,000 devices, such as laptops and iPads, to about 450 schools by 2026, but that timetable is now unlikely to be met.
Dr Kingon said about £70 million would be spent on emergency repairs to schools and creating extra school places for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities in 2023-24.
However, the EA has previously said that there is a backlog of around £500 million for school maintenance and repairs in Northern Ireland.
Nipsa general secretary Carmel Gates said that Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was imposing sanctions on public services to try to force Northern Ireland political parties to return to the assembly.
“The action has been forced in large measure by the government’s decision to implement sanctions in Northern Ireland,” she said.
“The sanctions imposed by the secretary of state and Westminster are designed to force Northern Ireland political parties to return to Stormont,” said Ms Gates. “In effect, these sanctions only hurt ordinary people and will cause permanent damage to public services.”
