BY PAUL McELWEE
CONTINGENCY plans by the Western Educaiton and Library Board (WELB) are to come into force over coming days as the threat looms of further stirkes by classroom assistnts following hte breakdown of pay talks.
In a statement yesterday (Wednesday), the WELB said it is "gravely concerned" about the impact of this strike on vulnerable children and young people, some of whom have significant special educational needs. The school board expects strike action to resume next week and is "working to implement contingencies, as a matter of urgency".
The board said it is making every effort to "promote the attendance of children and young people as their right to education must be safeguarded". To this end, it is:
* Preparing a letter for issue to parents whose children attend Special Schools (Arvalee, Omagh and Elmbrook, Enniskillen) who have been directly affected by the strike so that they are clear about the contingency arrangements for the new half-term;
* Preparing a circular for issue to mainstream school so that they are aware of the steps that can reasonably be taken in this critical situation;
* Devising a 'Carer Protocol' so that staff and parents are clear about their duties.
"Given the constraints on the action the board can take," said the WELB statement, "it is encouraging parents, guardians or a nominated family member to accompany their child to school, if classroom assistance is not available. Reasonable transport costs will be provided by the board, on request.
"The board realises that this is a difficult and stressful time for parents and for children and young people and will continue to review the situation so that every reasonable step is taken to ensure childrens' rights to education are safeguarded. Consequently, the co-operation of parents in relation to these interim arrangements would be greatly appreciated," the statement concluded.
Talks aimed at ending the industrial action started two weeks ago and concluded on Tuesday night, with no agreement reached.
The Nipsa union rejected the pay offer following two weeks of discussion with employers under the auspices of the Labour Relations Agency. Employers said the other unions appeared to believe the offer on the table was the best available but noted that they were "extremely frustrated".
Robin Harper, who represents the employers, said the offer was a good one.
"Our offer was a good offer, it was our best and final offer," he said. "We have spent the past two weeks trying to explain that, to clarify that and to make that absolutely clear - so as you can understand we're extremely angry and frustrated at this point in the discussions."
This was in contrast to the response by Nipsa's John Corey who said employers were not prepared to move on the key issues concerning his members Such issues included pay, special needs allowances and recognising NVQ level three qualifications.
"Classroom assistants that we represent are adamant that they are not prepared to accept a change to the method of calculation of their hourly rates of pay," he said.
Nipsa will hold meetings with its members on Thursday to discuss its course of action. The threat of strike action looms large again as the union has said unless its demands over job evaluations are met, it will likely call more than 2,000 of its classroom assistant members out again.
Lily Kerr from the Unison union, said the talks were never close to agreement - and that now it was time for their members to decide what they wanted to do next.
"I'm putting it out with no recommendation - our members themselves will make up their minds," she said.
