FERMANAGH teachers could now have “a better quality life and workload balance” after they agreed a pay offer following a hard-fought campaign which helped avert the threat of strike action.
The Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council agreed a deal which will see teachers receive a 5.5-per-cent pay rise which will be backdated to September 1 2024 and a review into their workload.
President of NASUWT and Fermanagh teacher, Sally Rees, welcomed news of the agreement.
“It’s really important we secured the 5.5-per-cent rise, but it’s important when we come off action short of strike action, the promises are kept on the issues around workload,” she told the ‘Herald.
Teachers who are currently earning £30,000 per year will now see their salary rise to £31,650.
For teaching staff higher up the pay scale, they will receive a reported wage increase of between £2,000 and £2,500 a year. It’ll cost the Stormont Executive just under £50 million this year.
The NASUWT President said teachers vowing to take strike action were more concerned about the workload pressures they’re facing, which will now be scrutinised in an independent review.
“If you’ve a percentage of your workforce rejecting a pay offer because what they want is a better quality life and workload balance, increasing pay won’t make it more attractive,” Ms Rees said.
“We need to ensure working conditions are better. It’s the ability to have a work-life balance instead of teachers doing work for free, which really has been happening recently.”
Local representatives had joined forces with teachers in their campaign for better pay.
“The teaching workforce plays an invaluable role in the education of our children. Teachers deserve fair pay and conditions,” Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA, Jemma Dolan, said.
Northern Ireland Education Minister, Paul Givan, has remained committed to carrying out an independent review into the workload pressures that teachers across the North are facing.
“I’ll be setting up a commission who will have an oversight and monitoring role in terms of the 26 areas of workload that have been identified,” the Education Minister told BBC News.
“That will report to me. That helps by way of accountability in terms of the agreement that we have reached.
“But I’ve also said it should look at all areas around workload, because when I’m in and out of schools – and I’ve been in now upwards of 200 schools – I hear from teachers and principals the pressure that they are under.”
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