Pay offer made to striking school support staff
A new pay offer will be made to Northern Ireland school support workers, including bus drivers, classroom assistants and canteen staff, who have gone on strike in recent months.
Education Minister Paul Givan described the proposal as a "significant step forward in getting a resolution".
The staff members have been in a long-running dispute over pay and job grading.
The industrial action has caused disruption to some schools although the most recent planned strike was called off.
It is anticipated that the unions will now ballot their members on whether to accept the new offer.
The deputy general of the Nipsa trade union said it would be recommending members vote to accept the deal.
The proposal, which would affect about 20,000 staff, includes the regrading of staff, backdated to 1 April, and a one-off lump sum payment of £2,500 to every member of staff, coming in the next financial year.
'We are recommending a road map'
Speaking on the BBC's Nolan Show, Mr Givan said the new pay offer recognises that support staff are "absolutely critical" but that "many of them are the lowest paid".
He further noted that "the ability to recruit and retain these staff was very challenging for our schools".
Mr Givan told the Nolan Show that a business case to fund a pay offer had been approved by the finance minister and that an application had been made to the Treasury in London to fund the proposal.
"But because of the election being called, we haven't had a response from the treasury and I went about trying to find an alternative solution," he said.
"And while we will still continue to pursue the Treasury, we have found a way forward."
Patrick Mulholland, the deputy general secretary of trade union Nipsa, said it was a “substantial offer”.
"We are very clear when we are recommending acceptance what we are really recommending is a road map and a way forward," Mr Mulholland said.
"That roadmap includes seeking additional funding from Treasury so the full and substantive offer could be applied right across education."
Mr Mulholland acknowledged that the assembly has "constraints" on its budget and that "they probably have maxed out those constraints".
“It is through a process of industrial action, campaigning and engagement that we have moved this process on,” he told the Nolan Show.
The re-grading of staff will cost the Northern Ireland Executive £52m and is to be funded through the June monitoring round.
This is when some money carried over from last year, additional money from Westminster and the start of a new 'top-up’ procedure for Stormont’s budget is allocated.
The one-off payment would cost the executive about £80m.
