5th October 2022
Members in the North have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action short of strike and strike action following a ballot which was carried out over the last three-weeks of September. The outcome mirrors the results coming in from the other five recognised teachers’ unions who have also been balloting for industrial action in the same period. In an unprecedented show of unity all five teacher unions in the north have been co-ordinating their balloting processes and will now embark on an agreed programme of industrial action short of strike.
INTO, Northern Secretary, Gerry Murphy speaking following the announcement of the ballot result said:
“INTO members are sending a very clear message and I sincerely hope the Minister, her officials and the employers are listening. INTO members message to employers is that they demand a fair and just pay rise. The figures returned in favour of action short of strike and strike action are a clear manifestation of the frustration and anger our members and teachers as a whole are feeling. It can be no surprise to the powers that be, on the back of a cost-of-living crisis and on top of the two years of the pandemic when teachers kept the education system functioning at considerable risk to themselves and their families, that our members are angry and prepared to take action.”
The Northern Secretary continued:
“It is still not too late for the employers and the Department of Education to resolve this dispute before the co-ordinated industrial action begins. This dispute involving the five teacher unions acting together is like no other the Department and the employers have faced before. It differs in two ways; firstly, this action involves all the recognised teacher unions, including for the first-time principal teachers; and secondly the co-ordinated actions short of strike will build very quickly to a point where the only element of the system that will be functioning normally will be the core teaching and learning activities. Everything else will be either stopped or disrupted so as to completely undermine any value the employers or the Department of Education attribute to them.
INTO members wish to see a resolution to the dispute but are determined to achieve a fair and just outcome. This willingness on our members part to engage with the employers and the Department should not be interpreted as any lack of resolve to take whatever industrial action is necessary and should it be necessary, we will take strike action. Its over to the employers and the Department now. They know where we are.”