Cork city councillor says local authority should apologise to school wardens over pay issue

School wardens who were brought under the control of Cork City Council, having previously been county council employees prior to the 2019 boundary extension, are still being paid less than their counterparts who have always been in the city division.

People Before Profit–Solidarity councillor Brian McCarthy sought a suspension of standing orders at Monday night’s Cork City Council meeting for a motion on pay for school wardens.

His request was granted by the other councillors, and the motion was heard in the presence of several wardens in the public gallery.

Scandal

“Last December, I raised the scandal of school wardens in the new city areas being paid 42% less a week than school wardens in the old city areas,” he said.

“In that motion, I called for four things. An explanation to be provided as to how and why this decision was made; for their pay to be brought up to the level it should be; for it to be backdated to when the workers first moved over to the city, and for Cork City Council to issue an apology to the workers affected."

“That motion was passed with unanimous support, but to date, only one of those things is being offered; for their pay going forward to be brought up to the level of the other wardens.

“No explanation, no apology, and they’ve been told they’re not getting the back pay.

“This is not what the council voted for last December.”

Negotiations

Cork City Council CEO Valerie O’Sullivan said at the meeting that the terms and conditions of school wardens, including rates of pay, have been the subject of negotiations and discussions with their union, Siptu.

“Those negotiations have been ongoing for some considerable time and are now very close to reaching a resolution,” she said, adding that there was an “inaccuracy” in the motion, in that the 42% quoted was not the universal difference.

“It’s more complex than that, and is a marginal difference in the hourly rate of pay which we are referring back to try and make par with each other,” she said, adding that part of the issue also came from the number of hours worked.