Teacher's across Fermanagh took to the picket lines for a half day of strike action on Tuesday as the stalemate over a pay deal continues.

Since October, teachers have been carrying out action short of a strike in schools, but with no progress in talks between the unions and employers and the Department of Education, this week's action is the next step.

The INTO, UTU, NASUWT and the NEU unions all took part in the strike action.

At the Omagh Rally, Sally Rees from Enniskillen, the Junior Vice President of NASUWT spoke of the ever increasing workload for teachers without a corresponding increase in pay.

"The last 13 years have seen cuts of 38 per cent to teacher’s pay in real terms. For me, that is a loss of over £76,000 into my pocket and into my pension!

"During this time the expectations on teachers have increased, class sizes have increased, workload has increased, communication at all hours of the day and night has increased.

"The cost of living has sky rocketed, while our pay has plummeted."

Sally said "teachers are tired, stressed and demoralised, and yet we continue to show up and put our pupils' needs first every day because that is who we are and what we do".

Continuing Mrs. Rees said the teaching profession needs to be treated "with the respect it deserves, and is valued rather than devalued by a continued lack of investment".

"A lack of investment in the workforce is a lack of investment in our young people, their prospects and their future.

"They deserve better. We deserve better. We demand better.

"It is time for proper pay for the workers who keep this country running day to day across all the public services," Sally concluded.

Teachers on the picket lines in Enniskillen hit out at the deterioration in pay over the last 10 years while others hit out at the cuts to budgets which affects those most in need in their schools.

Impartial Reporter:

SDLP Councillor, Adam Gannon, is also a teacher and was on the picket line.

"No teacher wants to be on a picket line today, we want to be in our classrooms, working with our pupils. Teaching is not a career that anyone gets into for the money, it’s a vocation driven by a love of education and the chance to play a role in the lives of our young people.

“Every teacher I know regrets that this strike action is necessary, but we have seen a huge real-terms reduction in our wages over recent years. We are being impacted by the same cost of living emergency that is hurting everyone across the North and given the Department of Education and employers’ attitude to our situation, with Stormont’s institutions still not functioning, we see no other option to try and resolve this dispute."

The Department of Education said they remained committed to continuing meaningful, active engagement with Trade Union colleagues to reach a resolution and ensure our teachers are fairly remunerated.

As well as teachers, health workers also went on strike on Tuesday in their campaign to secure safe staffing, better pay, and improved mileage allowances.

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