News

UNISON members have been on Action Short of Strike since October 16th and are taking strike action on November 16th. They want to deliver a strong message to all that with or without a sitting Assembly or Executive a fair reform of their pay agreement has to be delivered. The sustainability of a dedicated workforce depends on a just resolution to their long-standing demand.

The NJC pay uplift (covering NI, England and Wales) due since April 1st 2023, has finally been agreed.

We recently updated members on the long delay in resolving this issue. Efforts to improve on the offer were unsuccessful and it has taken some months to confirm that members of the negotiating unions would accept the initial offer.

We have now asked the Education Authority to confirm payment and make all necessary arrangements to ensure education workers are paid without delay.

The outcome of the Supreme Court ruling (Agnew) on the absence of certain payments in periods of annual and sick leave will raise significant expectation among many thousands of workers. Many cases across the public and private sectors have been stayed pending the outcome of this case.  The Supreme Court Judgment which will now mean backpay can be sought for thousands of workers potentially going back to 1998. The cost to the PSNI alone will be at least 40 million pounds.

As schools return after the summer break, the scale of the financial squeeze imposed by the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris on NI’s Education system is apparent. What is additionally concerning is the inability of devolved government departments to use monitoring rounds to redistribute funding from other sections of the state to the Department of Education and the Education Authority NI as a result of the suspension of the NI Executive.