'I'm worth more than a box of chocolates' - hundreds of Cork school secretaries picket Paschal Donohoe's office

Hundreds of striking school secretaries and caretakers gathered today outside the Department of Public Expenditure on Dublin’s Merrion Street, with a sizable crew travelling up from Cork.

Some 2,600 members of the Fórsa union began an indefinite strike on Thursday, demanding that school staff to be included in the public service pension scheme and other entitlements.

Their industrial action began as thousands of schools prepare for the start of the new academic year.

Last-minute talks at the Workplace Relations Commission between Fórsa and the Department of Education broke down on Wednesday evening without resolution.

Noreen O’Callaghan, who is a school secretary at Watergrasshill National School, said more than 200 people had left Cork at first light to attend the picket.

“I got on a bus that had travelled up from Kerry, and we had people travelling the length and breadth of the country to Dublin, where we had about 2,500 people outside Paschal Donohoe’s office,” she said.

Ms O’Callaghan is the Fórsa national branch secretary for school secretaries.

“It was an absolute sea of colour, it was just amazing, we’re delighted with the support we’ve been getting from the public,” she said.

“Spirits are very high, and our phones have not stopped ringing, with support coming from parents and students, and from principals, the support we’re seeing is actually phenonomenal.

“We had a lot of members who didn’t travel up to Dublin, and they were on pickets all around the country, and people have been so supportive of us.” Ms O’Callaghan added that nobody wanted to be on strike and they all wanted to get back to the jobs they loved, helping parents, students and teachers, but said “fair is fair, and I think most people can recognise that we are not being treated fairly”.

The current dispute hinges on the fact that school secretaries and caretakers are not entitled to public service pensions and other entitlements, but rather, when they retire, must rely on a State pension.

Some of those joining the picket in Dublin today held up placards saying: “I’m worth more than a box of chocolates”.

After a union-led campaign several years ago, secretaries in most schools were put on the public payroll in 2022, meaning they no longer had to sign on to social welfare during the summer holidays and became entitled to sick pay and maternity leave.

Although they are now being paid directly by the Department, most are still not classified as public servants.

A series of rallies around the country is planned for 11am today, including one outside Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s Turner’s Cross constituency office, one at Tánaiste Simon Harris’s constituency office in Bray, and one at the Department of Education.