Classroom Assistants Dispute

down | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Wednesday December 05, 2007 08:22 by .

Call for Trade Union inquiry

Striking Classroom Assistant held a protest outside the Belfast office of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Monday to demand a trade union inquiry into claims that the majority of Classroom Assistants have voted to accept managements offer.

The offer was forced through a meeting of the Joint Negotiating Council for education workers in Northern Ireland last Friday by the employers and GMB/UNISON. The decision was taken despite the opposition of the biggest non teaching education trade union, NIPSA, and the abstention of T&G.

During the period of strike action Stormont Education Minister Catriona Ruaine has made repeated calls for NIPSA to ballot its members. NIPSA has pointed out that every offer made by management has been brought to consultation meetings of members but in an effort to clarify the situation and to remove the Ministers excuse for not negotiating offered to ballot members last week. This offer was ignored.

OPEN LETTER TO THE IRISH CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS

Dear Mr Bunting

I am writing to you on behalf of NIPSA Classroom Assistants in the SEELB area to seek your help and support in our job evaluation dispute.

As you will be aware, we have been engaged in a major battle to stop cuts in the terms and conditions of Classroom Assistants and to achieve full payment of the job evaluation money owed to us by the employers since 1995. Our employers have now forced through a draconian offer at a meeting of the Joint Negotiating Council for Education on Friday 30 November. In forcing it through, Management used the excuse that the majority of Classroom Assistants had voted for the offer in trade union consultation ballots. In our view this is completely untrue. It is clear that the majority of Classroom Assistants have not voted for the offer.

Unfortunately some of our sister trade unions have provided a cover for management’s position. This has brought the trade union movement as a whole into disrepute and opens up very serious questions about the democratic rights of trade union members.

We are, therefore, calling on the ICTU as the umbrella body for all the trade unions involved in this dispute to carry out an open inquiry into the balloting and consultation procedures used by the following trade unions who were or became involved in this dispute; NIPSA, UNISON, GMB, T&G and ATL.

We believe that any such inquiry panel should be composed of independent and respected lay trade union members from unions other than those listed above.

We believe that only an inquiry can assist in exposing management’s propaganda thereby assisting Classroom Assistants in achieving a just settlement to this dispute. We firmly believe that an inquiry is the only way that union members in education will receive assurance that their democratic rights are and will continue to be properly protected.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours Sincerely
Brian Booth
Branch Secretary NIPSA 517
SEELB Area