14th October 2022
Monday October 17th sees INTO members in schools across the north commence industrial action short of strike. The action comes on the back of the recent ballot of members carried out by the union in late September, where INTO members gave their union a huge endorsement for a campaign of industrial action. This course of action has been forced upon our members following the failure of the employers and Department of Education [DE] to make an acceptable pay offer to INTO members for the 2021/22 year and their further failure to make any offer for the 2022/23 year.
INTO Northern Secretary, Gerry Murphy had this to say in advance of the action beginning:
“From 8am on Monday October 17th INTO members, in concert with their colleagues in the other four recognised teacher unions, will begin a campaign of industrial action designed to bring the employers and the DE to the negotiating table. INTO members will be taking action designed to focus the minds of the employers and DE on an issue they have been avoiding for too long.
Teachers across the north have been treated shamefully by the powers that be, considering their service over the course of the pandemic when day after day they put their health and that of their families at risk to keep the education system functioning. Now as we emerge from the pandemic these same teachers and every other public sector worker have been thrust into a cost-of-living crisis not of their making. Their employers and DE appear disinterested in the fact that many teachers can no longer make ends meet. The vote in favour of industrial action failed to move them, the action will.
The action short of strike INTO members and the members of the other teacher unions are going to take from Monday is designed to frustrate and negate the excessive demands made of them by the employers and DE. These actions are orientated in such a way as to not harm the educational opportunities of the children and young people in their care. The programme of industrial action will escalate over the time ahead should the employers and DE not step up with a reasonable pay offer for the two years in question.”
Mr Murphy concluded by saying:
“This action that INTO and others are taking is a last resort, the teachers feel they have no option given the inaction by the employers and DE on the issue of pay. There is still time to prevent this dispute becoming a prolonged and damaging one threatening all the good work and improved relationships across the system. So, let’s see the other side step up and make an offer that recognises the value of teachers and reflects their service in the most difficult of circumstances over the previous two years. The employers and DE have the ball firmly in their court.”