Givan and Teaching Unions on a collision course over pay

The BBC are reporting that education minister Paul Givan has told the Assembly that he simply does not have the funds to meet the pay demands of local unions.

“Giving teachers in Northern Ireland the pay rise unions have asked for is “simply impossible,” according to the education minister. Paul Givan told assembly members that the teaching unions had asked for a 13.5% rise in 2024-25. Givan also told the assembly that education authorities had formally asked the unions for ongoing strike ballots “to be stood down”.

With strike action on the table, the BBC quotes NASUWT official Justin McCamphill as saying in response…

“Teachers in Northern Ireland are not prepared to be the lowest-paid teachers in these islands. The minister needs to secure enough money so that an acceptable pay offer can be made to teachers in order to avert industrial action.” 

Conversely, Paul Givan has cited the budgetary pressures, particularly the need to maintain school premises

“I can only do so much with the budget that is made available to me,” the minister said. “There has not been the funding over many years to go into the school estate. There is a backlog of hundreds of millions of pounds. There is a programme of works between new builds, school enhancements, and what we need for special education over the next ten years that comes over, in the region of, about £3bn. If we’re serious about our school estate, we need to be serious when it comes to the allocation of funding to the Department of Education.”

Hopefully the two sides can come to an arrangement and head off the possibility of strike action.

Slugger Team

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