Principal labels school kitchen staff salaries “unacceptable”

A principal from a Lisburn primary school has described the salaries of some school kitchen staff as “frankly unacceptable,” even after a recent pay agreement. This statement was made in a letter addressed to the Education Authority (EA). Andrew Burns, who leads Riverdale Primary, informed the EA that his school’s kitchen supervisor experienced a “pay downgrade.” The EA, responsible for employing personnel in school kitchens and canteens, stated that “transformation work” previously agreed upon with trade unions is intended to address this concern. Remuneration structures for school support personnel, including bus drivers, classroom assistants, and canteen staff, underwent recent modifications following a comprehensive review of pay and job classifications. However, the review resulted in school kitchen supervisors, also referred to as unit catering supervisors, being placed on the identical pay grade as cooks. These supervisors are responsible for various additional duties not required of cooks, such as menu planning, managing food orders, and overseeing staff. Recently, a number of primary schools in County Down have experienced a lack of hot dinners, attributed to a scarcity of school kitchen personnel. Mr. Burns informed BBC News NI that Riverdale’s canteen supervisor not only ensured “the kids are getting a healthy and nutritious meal but also made it an interesting and fun place to go.” He commented, “It just seems to be over the years, she’s in earlier than she should be, she’s working longer than she should be.” He added, “When they’re going above and beyond to then basically what seems like a downgrade in pay, the worry is that you’re going to have people either burnt out or people deciding they’re not going to stay on.” Mr. Burns further stated that while he welcomed the pay agreements for all non-teaching staff, he was troubled that the “extra responsibilities” of canteen or unit supervisors had not been adequately compensated. Within his correspondence to the EA, he requested that “this decision be reviewed with urgency.” He concluded, “I feel that their jobs are undervalued and that they should be recognised for the hard work that they do.” A unit supervisor conveyed to BBC News NI that the recent pay review left her feeling “very much underappreciated.” She clarified that while she did not intend to undervalue the work performed by cooks, unit supervisors carry greater responsibilities within the kitchen environment. “We feel there was no consultation with us regarding the changes,” she stated. She added, “We got to vote but there was no response from unions on our feelings.” A different unit supervisor mentioned having observed “many changes” in her role throughout the years. She elaborated, “Added paper work, a lot of it with very little clear training, staff shortages, not being able to depend on orders arriving, maintenance not being carried out, the list goes on.” She continued, “We put our all into the job and continue to feed the children.” She concluded, “We’re not asking for a lot, only that we are fairly paid and recognised for what we do.” An EA spokesperson commented that the pay and grading review “significantly reformed the EA pay structures, resulting in an uplift in pay for our support staff.” The spokesperson added, “This has been widely welcomed by our staff and will go a long way to tackling the recruitment and retention issues we are facing across many of our services.” Nevertheless, the EA acknowledged that certain pay scales had been consolidated. “It was recognised as part of the pay and grading discussions with trade unions that this would have an impact on some staffing structures within our catering service,” the spokesperson further explained. “It was therefore agreed with trade unions, as part of the pay and grading negotiations that service transformation work would be undertaken in parallel to the pay scales being amended,” the spokesperson stated. “This would resolve this issue,” the spokesperson concluded.