Unite strike: Councils and schools face disruption over pay dispute

Councils, the Housing Executive and some schools face up to two weeks of disruption from Monday due to strike action by the Unite union.

Unite members in most councils and the Housing Executive started a walk-out on Monday in a dispute over pay.

The union's members in the Education Authority (EA) then begin strike action from Tuesday 26 April.

The action follows a previous walk-out by Unite members in March over a local government pay offer of 1.75%.

The union has called that a "real-terms pay cut" as the cost of living has been surging due to rising fuel, energy and food costs.

Unite's Northern Ireland Officer Gareth Scott said employers were to blame for the resumption of strike action.

• Special school transport faces strike disruption

"These employers need to address the pay expectations of their workforce," he said in a statement.

"Their failure to do so to date has led to this escalation and the unnecessary disruption that will inevitably result."

But the EA has said the Unite strike comes after a local government pay offer across England, Wales and Northern Ireland which has already been accepted by the majority of trade unions.

"Therefore, local government organisations, including EA, do not have the power or authority to renegotiate this for Northern Ireland," the authority said.

Some EA yellow bus services, which take pupils to school, will not operate for two weeks from Tuesday.

However, school bus services operated by Translink will run as normal following the postponement of a possible strike by bus drivers.

The EA also said that some special schools faced disruption as some non-teaching staff, including classroom assistants, would be on strike.

One special school - Glenveagh in Belfast - has already said the dispute will mean that its pupils will not be able to come into school for almost two weeks.

The EA said it had asked Unite for special school staff and bus drivers to be exempted from the strike action but the union refused.

"We firmly believe these requests to be reasonable and valid and we remain unclear about the basis for them to be rejected by Unite given the impact on some of the most vulnerable children," the authority added.

Meanwhile, the Housing Executive has said some of its scheduled repair services for tenants in Craigavon, Coleraine and north and west Belfast are likely to be affected until 8 May.

Council services likely to be affected include some bin collections, street cleaning and the operation of some venues.

For instance, Belfast City Council said that City Hall, Belfast Zoo, and some community centres, play centres, sports pitches, bowling greens, parks and public toilets could be closed on some days during the strike.

Derry City and Strabane District Council said it expected there to be "disruption to a range of services such as refuse collection, street cleansing, recycling centres, leisure facilities and a number of other services".

It said "the level of impact will be variable across all services".

• 25 April-1 May and 3 May-8 May: Unite members in the NI Housing Executive; nine councils (Antrim and Newtownabbey; Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon; Causeway Coast & Glens; Mid & East Antrim; Belfast City; Derry City & Strabane; Fermanagh & Omagh; Lisburn & Castlereagh; and Mid-Ulster); and three further education colleges (North West Regional College; Belfast Metropolitan College; South Eastern Regional College)
• 26 April-1 May and 3 May-8 May: Unite members at the Education Authority
• 3 May-15 May: Unite members at Ards & North Down Borough Council
• 6 May: Unite members at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council