SOME special schools in Northern Ireland faced further disruption yesterday as another day of strike action was held by Unite union.
One special school in Belfast was forced to move to remote learning as Education Authority (EA) workers took part in their continued campaign for improved pay.
Pupil transport and meals were affected with a number of classroom assistants also not working.
Glenveagh Special School in Belfast told parents it had "no option" but for pupils to remain at home yesterday.
In a letter from the school, it said: "The support staff in Glenveagh bring immeasurable value to the children with whom they work and are critical to the safe operation of the school.
"We fully respect their right to engage in industrial action."
But it added that Glenveagh had "a vastly higher number of support staff" who were members of Unite than other schools.
"It is anticipated that less than one per cent of our non-teaching staff will be in attendance on Friday," it said.
"We simply cannot safely provide face-to-face teaching for pupils in these circumstances.
"We understand that this will cause further disruption to our pupils and families."
Around 2,000 Unite union members held a week-long strike last week, which involved classroom assistants, school bus drivers, Housing Executive and council workers.
Staff are protesting at a local government pay offer of 1.75 per cent, which the union described as a "real terms pay cut".
Clare Duffield from the EA said it was "disappointed" by the further day of industrial action.
"I remain very concerned about the disproportionate impact the industrial action is having on children, particularly those with special educational needs, and would call upon Unite to reconsider putting in place exemptions for special school staff and transport," she said.
"National negotiations are due to commence on the 22/23 pay award and we would encourage Unite to join their trade union colleagues to engage constructively on this.
"Additionally, we will continue to engage collectively with all of our trade unions on local issues impacting on pay terms and conditions."
Kieran Ellison from Unite said the EA needed to make a "realistic" pay offer.
"Full responsibility for this lies with the Education Authority who have failed to make any response even after the first week of strike action," he said.
"We are calling on them to come forward with a realistic pay offer to address our members' pay expectations."
