School secretaries and caretakers begin indefinite strike

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

School secretaries and caretakers are to begin indefinite strike action on Thursday.

They are campaigning for 2,600 school staff to be included in the public service pension scheme and other entitlements.

The industrial action kicks in as thousands of schools prepare for the return of the academic year.

Engagement between the Forsa union and the Department of Education at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concluded without any outcome on Wednesday.

Forsa’s head of education, Andy Pike, said its members “have been left with no clarity or pathway to a fair pension”.

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 not classified as public servants.

The first day of the strike action will involve a rally of school secretaries and caretakers at the Department of Public Expenditure’s offices in Dublin on Thursday.

Mr Pike said: “Our members are beginning this strike today because, despite decades of service, thousands of school secretaries and caretakers still face the prospect of retiring with no pension.

“The State’s continued refusal to give them the same employment status as their colleagues has locked out several generations of school staff from secure income in retirement.

“The policy is a calculated policy decision to maintain inequality.”

The chair of Forsa’s School Secretaries branch, Luisa Carty, said school secretaries and caretakers are employed under identical arrangements to teachers and special needs assistants.

“They are appointed by boards of management, paid through the Department of Education, and their terms are set by the Minister for Education.

“Despite these arrangements, we continue to be denied access to the public service pension scheme, as well as the same occupational sick pay and bereavement leave schemes.

“It makes no sense. Our school secretary colleagues in Education and Training Board schools have full public service status, including pension access. We are striking for fairness,” she said.

On Friday, a series of rallies around the country are planned to be held at 11am, including at the Department of Education, Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s Cork constituency office and Tánaiste Simon Harris’ constituency office in Bray.