Teachers in Northern Ireland will strike for a full day on Wednesday 26 April.
It is expected that most schools in Northern Ireland will close that day as almost every teacher is likely to be on strike.
Members of the NAHT school leaders’ union will join four unions who walked out on 21 February for half a day: the NEU, NASUWT, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) and the Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU).
There has been no progress over a teacher pay deal in Northern Ireland for more than a year. In February 2022, unions rejected an “inadequate” pay offer from employers for 2021-23.
It is the first time in its 125-year history that members of the NAHT have taken strike action over pay. NAHT Northern Ireland president, Liam McGuckin, has said that striking was “the very last resort”.
“Our members have reached the absolute last shred of their patience with a system that is failing its schools, its workforce and, most importantly, its young people,” he said.
“Without expedited significant investment, we will see a profession that holds together much of the fabric of society damaged to an irreparable extent.”
Justin McCamphill, national official for the NASUWT teaching union, said that the NAHT’s involvement was “really important”.
“It is showing it’s not just teachers in the classroom - it’s teachers at leadership level, too,” he said.
Mr McCamphill said that union members were “in for the long haul” and called on the Department of Education to work with the government on a better pay rise.
He added that this would help prevent teachers from looking for work outside Northern Ireland.
“The reality is they are going to look at salaries elsewhere on the one hand and on the other hand they are going to look at their fuel bill, their rates, their food bill and they are going to say, quite simply, ‘I can’t afford to live here,’” he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the five unions said: “Teachers’ pay, in real terms, has dropped by nearly a quarter in the ‘lost decade’ since the pay freeze of 2010-11.
“We are now stepping up our campaign for a fair deal for all teachers. Our members have watched governments in other jurisdictions make offers which will lead to pay levels far in excess of what is available in Northern Ireland.”
The statement added: “Collectively, the five recognised unions are saying ‘enough is enough’ and that government and employers must act now to deliver a pay settlement which recognises the real terms loss in earnings suffered by teachers for more than a decade.”
Last week, a decision to end holiday hunger, school counselling and Covid education recovery schemes for children in Northern Ireland at a day’s notice was described as “outrageous” and the result of a “failing political system”.
