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Classroom Assistants aren't Demanding the Earth

22/11/07

While James Connolly’s demand that workers are entitled to ‘the earth’ is a strong message that still resounds with organised labour and socialists a century later, the demands from classroom assistants in the Six Counties for  “a just and fair outcome to their job evaluation and the retention of their contractual rights” is nowhere near as high.

It is incredible that neither the Six County executive or the Education & Library Boards have the will to resolve this dispute in a just manner.

The simple issues the education boards are showing absolute intransigence on are:

• Removal of the 32 ½ hour divisor which is currently used to determine rates of pay.
• Removal of special needs allowance for assistants working with disabled children.
• Refusal to accept knowledge and skills equivalent to NVQ Level 3 for job evaluation purposes.

All three are contractual entitlements that the employers are seeking to remove without consent from the workers concerned.

After unions suspended their strike action to enter negotiations with employers through the Six County Labour Relations Agency, the basic and legitimate demands at the core of the dispute were not addressed in any way, with employers stating they used the talks to simply clarify their already rejected offer.

After such a breathtaking display of bad faith negotiating, NIPSA members rightly returned to the picket lines where their union was met with a barrage of dishonest and hostile briefings from the employers through the media and concerted efforts at strike breaking from the political establishment at Stormont.

NIPSA stated:

"NIPSA has also openly criticised the Education Minister (Caitríona Ruane) for her recent statement that “the time for talking is over”.  This Minister and the Education & Library Boards need to understand that the only way to resolve this or any dispute is to negotiate a resolution."

éirígi spokesperson Brian Leeson expressed support for the striking educational workers.

 “éirígí believes the implementation of British New Labour policies through the Stormont assembly will never bring about workers’ rights and respect for labour.  However, it is essential that those with responsibility for allowing the strike action to continue accept they have seriously miscalculated the will of workers to confront them on anti-worker policies and make concerted efforts to resolve the dispute.

“It is unacceptable that while employers try to deprive undervalued workers of their rights the establishment is also creating a situation where the most vulnerable children in society have their education damaged.

“éirígí is fully supportive of the legitimate demand for an immediate resumption of good faith talks to resolve the three outstanding concerns of classroom assistants. Their call for Stormont ministers to cease attempting to undermine the workers’ position and take the intransigent employers they are responsible for to task in the interests of both children and classroom assistants is totally reasonable.”