Rosemary Barton MLA, Ulster Unionist Education Spokesperson, has said that she fully understands the frustration that has led to the five teaching unions call for a 5% pay increase for this year.
Mrs Barton said:
“The failure to provide any inflation based pay increase to teachers for some time, has resulted in a net loss in their pay structure.
“I note that it has been said that management cannot negotiate on the pay proposals as there is no Minister in charge. I have no doubt that many will question why it seems that it is ok for a Civil Servant to decide on some of the biggest infrastructure projects that Northern Ireland will see for some time, including the Hightown Waste Incinerator at Mallusk and this week’s decision to give the go-ahead for a new A5 road, but not to decide on pay awards for teachers and nurses.
“Sadly it appears that previous Ministers didn’t have the desire to resolve this ongoing issue and now those who are in charge of the running of departments are not providing any more comfort.
“This issue has been ongoing now for far too long. Enough is enough. There must be a resolution to this issue without further delay.”