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In the face of unrelenting strike action Durham council bosses have agreed to shelve plans to fire and rehire thousands of teaching assistants on new contracts.

Staff argued that the new contracts would have resulted in a salary cut of up to 23% and in protest took strike action twice in the last month over the proposal.

Further strikes were planned for Thursday and three days next week - but unions announced they would suspend action on Wednesday after the council agreed to put plans to dismiss and re-employ staff on new contracts from January on hold.

The council say that a review of teaching assistants’ role, function, job description and activities has been launched with the view to making recommendations late next year.

Clare Williams, UNISON Northern regional secretary, said: “Disputes are only ever solved through negotiation.

“At last there can be proper talks, without the threat of huge pay cuts hanging over teaching assistants’ heads.

“Everyone is hoping that councillors now act in good faith, abandon their pay cut plans once and for all, and show how much they value their brilliant teaching assistants.”

Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, added: “This is an important step in the fight to protect Durham teaching assistants from pay cuts that would mean financial hardship for families who are already struggling. But there’s still plenty of work to do in the weeks ahead to make sure school support staff don’t lose out.

“Thankfully the county council has been listening and – realising it was up against the incredible passion and dedication of its teaching assistants and the support of an entire community – has decided upon a different approach.

“Councillors now have a real opportunity to show they value the work of these vital education staff, and to pay them what they deserve.”

Durham County Council had previously said that the new pay deal was fair and represented parity with other ‘non-teaching’ staff working in schools.

They argued that paying teaching assistants for the entire year, when other non-teaching employees only get paid during term time, could leave the authority liable to equal pay claims.

John Hewitt, corporate director of resources at Durham County Council, said that while the implementation of the new contract had been suspended it did not mean the current contract would remain.

He said: “We have agreed to undertake a review of teaching assistants’ role, function, job description and activities within the breadth of school activities, to establish whether current job descriptions adequately describe the role being undertaken.

“This review will not re-open the single status agreement currently in place. The timescale for its completion is by the 1 September 2017.

He added: “We are clear that an equal pay risk exists that needs to be addressed.

“However it is also important to properly examine aspects of the employment of teaching assistants which merit further review given some of the information which has come to light recently.

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“This is a very complex situation and it has also resulted in us having further discussions with other recognised trade unions.

“We look forward to working with these trade unions on the way forward and very much appreciate Unison’s decision to call off tomorrow’s planned action.”

The move comes after we revealed how Durham council’s Labour hierarchy had been left at odds with the local constituency party over the contract proposal.

The Chair of the City of Durham CLP and Coxhoe County Councillor Maria Plews had said: “Every single one of us councillors doesn’t want this.

“We don’t want this situation or to be in this position.

“It breaks our hearts that we have to do this. We hope that talks between the unions and the council resolve the issue.”