Classroom assistants at a college in Northern Ireland are set to hold a one-day strike and a work-to-rule early next month after they were told Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle, Co Down, cannot afford to pay their 52-week contracts due to a shortfall in its budget. This is despite the staff having signed addenda to their existing contracts stating that they each opted for the 52-week contract under the terms of last year's term-time agreement. The 14 assistants, who stand to be paid only until the end of the June and the start of the summer holidays, are represented by the trade union NIPSA. Brian Booth, NIPSA branch 517 spokesman, said, 'What has effectively happened is their contracts are being breached. This is not an Education and Library Board school and it is responsible for its own budget.'
Classroom assistants at a college in Northern Ireland are set to hold a one-day strike and a work-to-rule early next month after they were told Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle, Co Down, cannot afford to pay their 52-week contracts due to a shortfall in its budget. This is despite the staff having signed addenda to their existing contracts stating that they each opted for the 52-week contract under the terms of last year's term-time agreement. The 14 assistants, who stand to be paid only until the end of the June and the start of the summer holidays, are represented by the trade union NIPSA. Brian Booth, NIPSA branch 517 spokesman, said, 'What has effectively happened is their contracts are being breached. This is not an Education and Library Board school and it is responsible for its own budget.'
