24th May 2022
INTO, Northern Secretary, Gerry Murphy has indicated that he believes INTO will have no option but to ballot their members shortly on whether or not they are prepared to take industrial action as a result of the continued failure of management side to resolve the teachers’ pay claim for the 2021/22 year.
Mr Murphy addressing the INTO Northern Committee monthly meeting on Friday, May 20th said:
“We have engaged fully with the Department of Education and the employing authorities in a series of genuine attempts to get a pay settlement for INTO members that reflects, in a meaningful way, their continued contribution and value to society. A pay offer which takes account of the tremendous work undertaken by INTO members in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and reflects the increased inflationary burden that everyone, including INTO members, is experiencing.
To date we have not been able to achieve a resolution to this pay issue and the longer it takes to get into a serious negotiation with the Department of Education and the employing authorities then the pressure continues to build for all-out industrial action across the entire teaching profession. While this is a situation we would like to avoid, industrial action is not something INTO will shy away from if we don’t see some movement in this regard.
That means we need to begin preparing to carry out a ballot for industrial action so we have that choice available to us should it prove to be necessary for us to go down this road. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, we won’t limit ourselves to token actions. INTO is a serious organisation that behaves responsibly and any actions it takes will be with the full support of our members and will be designed to achieve an outcome acceptable to them.
To that end, I will be seeking to speak to representatives of both the Department of Education and employing authorities in the week ahead to kick start a negotiation that will lead to an acceptable offer being made to our members. Should this fail then we can look forward to a ballot of INTO members.”