Northern Ireland education strikes: Mum struggling with disruption for son with special needs says action 'just can't go on'

She was speaking as thousands of school support staff across Northern Ireland engaged in a second day of strike action, with the warning that further action will follow if a resolution to their concerns over pay and grading is not found.

Workers such as bus drivers, classroom assistants, cleaning and canteen staff will be on strike for part of this week, with two further days of action planned for June.

Stormont’s Department of Education has said the strikes will have a “significant detrimental impact” on children.

Unite and Nipsa members are on strike from Monday to Wednesday this week, while GMB members went on strike on Monday and Tuesday. All three unions will strike on 3 and 4 June.

Almost 30,000 pupils in NI are recognised as having special needs.

Cathy's son is nonverbal, autistic, and has severe learning difficulties.

He attends Parkview School in Lisburn from 9-1:30pm on Monday to Friday.

"During the last strike, getting him back into routine again was just awful," Cathy said.

Even though he loves school, if the routine of going is broken he becomes very disturbed at the idea of starting back.

He becomes very physically aggressive towards himself and her, out of frustration.

She works part-time but has had to take time off out of her annual leave to care for him at home this week.

"The strikes just can't go on like this," she said. "They're not understanding how at the back end of this it is impacting us parents."

A spokesperson for the Education Authority said around eight special schools have been closed by the strikes with four partial closures.

Around 250 EA yellow buses are not running and more than 20% of children entitled to a Free School meal are impacted. A small number of mainstream schools have also had to close.

“We remain very concerned about the disproportionate impact this will have on our children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs, those sitting exams and those from the most socially deprived areas."

She added: “We remain fully committed to delivering the Pay and Grading review. However, we simply don't have the money to proceed at this time and a resolution is outside of our control."

Senior organiser with the GMB trade union, Alan Perry said union members in non-teaching roles are “angry and frustrated”.

He said: ”They have simply had enough; they’ve yet to be acknowledged for their job roles despite the Education Authority agreeing the business case for the pay and grading review dating back to 2018.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said Minister Paul Givan recognises “the vital contribution” made by the workers.

They added: “The Minister bid for the £180m that would be required to implement the Pay and Grading Review, but given the numerous other competing pressures, the Executive did not have the funding required, so they agreed that the Minister of Finance should seek approval from HM Treasury to bring forward funding from future years to enable implementation.”

Speaking after joining striking education support workers on the picket line, UUP MLA Andy Allen said: "Our education support workers are the backbone of our education system. The roles they fulfil are essential to the delivery of education and should be recognised as such. The Northern Ireland Executive must, without any further delay, bring the outstanding pay and grading review dispute to a satisfactory conclusion, sending a clear message that the role of our education support workers is valued.

“Workers don’t want to resort to striking, but after speaking with many of them, it is clear they feel they have been left with little option but to take their fight for fair pay and grading to the picket line."