Classroom assistants lobby
WORKERS, OCT 2007 ISSUE
Photo: Workers Classroom assistant members of NIPSA, the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, lobbying commuters on their way home from work in Belfast. They voted by a massive 93.5 per cent for strikes, beginning on 26 September, in response to a derisory offer from the employers in June to their long-running dispute over pay and job-evaluation.
The employers have clearly miscalculated their resolve to stand and fight for better pay. The assistants spent the summer getting organised into area groups with strike coordinators liaising on publicity and strike organisation.