A trade union leader has said that ‘misinformation’ spread on social media may have been the reason behind some of its members not accepting the latest pay offer deal.
Teachers across the north are set to begin industrial action short of strike on Monday after union members voted not to accept a pay offer of a 5.5% rise.
Of the five unions comprising the Northern Ireland Teachers Council (NITC), only members of the headteachers’ union voted to accept the offer.
More: Teachers reject pay offer of 5.5% and announce industrial action from Monday
Mark McTaggart, Northern Secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), said that some members may have been swayed to vote against the offer due to ‘misinformation’ spread on social media.
“It became very apparent on Friday night that there was misinformation being put out across social media,” he told BBC Good Morning Ulster.
“We don’t know who put it out.
“I would say that many members have seen what was [on] social media and have made a decision based on that before the chance was taken by us.”
He added that members may “quite possibly” have voted differently if this ‘false information’ hadn’t been posted and shared online.
Mr McTaggart said that some members felt there was an implication in the deal that would prevent future industrial action, however, this was not the unions’ understanding.
Employers say the pay deal included a salary increase, a commitment to timeframes for future pay negotiations and a commitment on workload.
Jacquie White, General Secretary of the Ulster Teacher’s Union (UTU), told the programme that while misinformation was one of a number of factors which contributed to the rejection of the offer.
These included the timing of the offer, which was put to members late on a Friday, meaning the unions “weren’t in a position to actually provide that clarification; to respond to members concerns”.
“I think there was a bit of a perfect storm created,” she said.
She also cited the issue of workload, which has been “on the cards” for the past five years.
Eve Bremner, head of the management side of negotiations, said that they had made “commitments to move forward over 20 measures on workload” that had been identified by teachers.
“It’s really unfortunate that that maybe hasn’t been communicated clearly enough and that we haven’t had the opportunity to spell out those commitments,” she told the BBC.
While acknowledging that there may be “valid and legitimate concerns”, she stressed that the offer does not remove the right for future industrial action.
Ms Bremner added that upcoming action will be “corrosive in schools”, potentially placing leaders and teachers in conflict with one another and impacting parent-teacher meetings.
Head of UTU, Ms White, argued that children “should notice very little difference” as action short of strike commences.
Both leaders called on management side to return to negotiations, while Ms Bremner said employers made it clear that the unions should bring forward solutions required for the deal to be accepted.
