NI classroom assistants to strike

An offer by education and library boards to avert further strike action by Northern Ireland's 7,000 classroom assistants was …

An offer by education and library boards to avert further strike action by Northern Ireland's 7,000 classroom assistants was rejected by one of the trade unions today.

Nipsa announced plans to proceed with a three day strike from tomorrow, after its panel representing the assistants unanimously rejected the three part offer.

The union also warned they were planning more strike action next week.

Under the offer made last Friday, it was proposed there would be a re-grading of all 7,000 classroom assistant jobs, with up to 50 per cent of posts upgraded at an annual cost of £3.5 million per annum.

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It was also suggested there would be three new job titles Classroom Assistant (General), Classroom Assistant (Special Needs) and Classroom Assistant (Additional Special Needs), with new rates of pay ranging from £11,619 to £20,235 for full-time staff depending on grade and service.

The employers offered to allocate up to £25 million to cover the backdating of the re-grading to 1995, with the amount each individual receives varying according to the level of upgrading and length of service.

The calculator rate used to determine the hourly rate of pay would also have been changed from 32.5 to 36, with different hourly rates for part-time staff.