NI classroom assistants return to work

Northern Ireland classroom assistants have voted to suspend all further strike action.

The decision, by members of the union NIPSA, was taken following weekend of talks, and a single day of industrial action on Monday 3 December.

All three other unions representing classroom assistants in Northern Ireland have already voted to accept a £15 million deal.

Members of NIPSA, who number more than 3,300, have so far taken 17 days of strike action in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

NIPSA said its members were "angry, disappointed and frustrated" at the way they had been treated. They had not given up, or been defeated, said the union.