Cork councillor urges Government to intervene to avoid school strikes

A Cork city councillor has urged the Government to intervene ahead of a planned strike by school secretaries and caretakers.

In June, Fórsa trade union confirmed that school secretaries and caretakers voted in favour of indefinite strike action in their ongoing campaign for pension justice, with 98% of voting members supporting the move.

Fórsa represents more than 2,300 school secretaries nationally working in primary and secondary schools and 500 school caretakers.

The mandate for indefinite strike action follows the union’s efforts to secure access for school secretaries to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, from which they remain excluded despite being on the Department of Education’s centralized payroll since 2023.

Critical component 

Cork city Labour councillor Peter Horgan warned that the back to school season will be halted if school secretaries engage in indefinite strikes as promised “due to Government intransigence on this critical component of the school ecosystem”.

He said that returning to school was just weeks away, and “any parent who has children in school knows the vital role school secretaries and caretakers play — the school cannot function without them”.

“The Government must wake up to that and engage to avoid this strike.”

He added: “This strike for pension equality is not taken lightly and I commend Forsa’s proactive role in seeking relations but the Government must show their hand. This isn’t a game of poker, it’s real life people — the secretaries and caretakers deserve pension equality.”

Andy Pike, Fórsa’s head of education, said that the campaign for pension equality must be seen through to its conclusion.

“These are committed professionals who contribute to the successful operation of every school, and they should be entitled to the same pension rights as their colleagues across the public service.”