Union suspends classroom strike

Nipsa's John Corey said employers must be prepared to reach a deal

Classroom assistants belonging to the Nipsa union have voted to return to work, while negotiations on their dispute continue.

A majority vote was cast in 10 meetings held around Northern Ireland.

It is understood some members of the union were reluctant to trust the management side's willingness to properly negotiate a better deal.

However, on Monday the majority voted in favour of suspending the strike action until the end of October.

About 3,000 members of Nipsa have been taking part in the dispute over pay and job re-grading.

A full weekend of meetings at the Labour Relations Agency ended with no resolution of the contentious issues.

Monday was the tenth day of the classroom assistants' action.

Nipsa and the other unions involved say the core issues causing the strike remain unresolved.

"The employers have now accepted the need to enter negotiations on the key issues that caused this dispute and have also affirmed that the current terms and conditions of employment of classroom assistants cannot be unilaterally varied," Nipsa general secretary John Corey said.

"However, we are still only at the start of the negotiating process to achieve an agreement that will be acceptable to all classroom assistants."