Solidarity and Betrayal - Two sides of the NI classroom assistants dispute

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:59:50 +0000
Education workers, GMB, NIPSA, Sinn Fein, Strikes, TGWU, UNISON, Workplace, Ulster, Newspaper, News, Gregor Kerr

In early December classroom assistants in the North returned to work after a series of strike actions which had gone on since September. This action by the classroom assistants showed in stark form the two faces of the trade union movement. On the one hand there was the tremendous bravery and solidarity shown by the workers themselves in standing up to attempts to bully and harass them back to work. On the other hand was the duplicitousness and skulduggery of some trade union bureaucrats who not alone did their best to undermine the dispute but actively worked with management and politicians to betray the workers.