Strike by non-education workers at schools in NI

Workers at Ceara Special School in Lurgan, Co Armagh speak of their anguish at having to strike over pay.

Transcript

00:00 I'm just for a day's pay, just for what was promised and what everybody's already agreed

00:10 that we're well over due to pay raise and we deserve one.

00:14 Yeah, well, like Roy had said before, the work's rewarding and I'm sure just with the

00:22 pay the way it is at the minute, people's getting forced out of the job, it's just really

00:26 for the love of people staying. But yeah, the work's rewarding and that's why people stay.

00:33 We get, it's great working with the kids. You get far more from the kids than you give

00:40 them and if it wasn't for that, it was to do with money. As long as we're here, we'll

00:46 be working elsewhere. All they're asking is that the promises were made and it's done

00:53 and we want to come back. We deserve our bit as well. Everybody else seems to have got

00:59 their piece but we have been left behind, ignored.

01:04 It must be very tough for you to go on strike today, a serious decision for you all. Tell

01:09 me how hard it was.

01:11 Well, I am. Personally speaking, I was quite anguished about taking, going on strike because

01:17 I know how this isn't like going with mainstream kids. They're quite happy to be the day off,

01:23 especially these kids. It's all about routine, things like out there. So it's done with a

01:28 heavy heart this.

01:31 What do you want to see happening?

01:35 Just reward us for the work we do. Keep your promises.

01:39 Pay for a day's work, cover everything we were asked.

01:44 And it's not just ourselves here today. It's these women and men who work in here with

01:51 the kids, classroom assistants. They have a far, far tougher job than we have and they

01:58 deserve a reward as well.

02:00 We deliver the kids into school. We only have maybe an hour on the bus with them and sometimes

02:04 that can be challenging enough but these guys in the school, they spend the best part of

02:09 the day with them and I'm sure their jobs are a whole lot harder than ours.

02:14 We feel we deserve a pay raise. They most definitely deserve a pay raise and the promise

02:20 is honored.

02:21 I make promises where I'm at and everybody agrees. It's just not a promise.