School secretaries and caretakers begin indefinite strike action

School secretaries and caretakers across the country who are members of the Fórsa trade union begin indefinite strike action today (Thursday).

The strike by Fórsa trade union members is being held in a bid to secure equal treatment and pension inclusion for over 2,600 school staff.

A regional rally will take place at Athlone's Department of Education tomorrow.

Engagement at the WRC yesterday concluded without any outcome. The Department of Education did not at any point outline to Fórsa its position on the request to admit secretaries and caretakers into the public service pension scheme. The WRC then informed Fórsa shortly before 6pm that it had concluded that the gap between the two parties is too far apart for any resolution at this point in time.

Fórsa’s head of Education Andy Pike said: “We went to the WRC in good faith, but yet again our members have been left with no clarity, or pathway to a fair pension.”

The strike marks a major escalation in efforts to end what Fórsa has described as the “deliberate and indefensible exclusion” of school secretaries and caretakers from the public service pension scheme and other basic entitlements.

The decision follows a ballot in which 98% of Fórsa members backed indefinite strike action. The first day of the strike will be marked by a rally of school secretaries and caretakers at the Department of Public Expenditure offices in Merrion Street today. Fórsa has said the department continues to block progress on the issue.

Mr Pike continued: “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,” he said.

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

“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 ETB schools have full public service status, including pension access. We are striking for fairness,” she said.

Fórsa has warned that decades of political promises have failed to deliver, despite strong expressions of support from across the political spectrum and from the Minister for Education earlier this year. The union says the lack of movement reflects the refusal of the Department of Public Expenditure to engage with the issue.

Mr Pike added: “Our members have waited long enough. They’ve voted overwhelmingly for indefinite strike action because they are determined to secure pension parity once and for all. This is not an easy decision for any worker to take, but our members are speaking with one clear voice.

“A negotiated solution is possible. It’s time to end decades of needless inequality and take the final step to secure pension parity in our schools,” he said.

David Hearne, chair of the union’s school caretakers branch said the strike is about basic fairness, to ensure that the school secretary or caretaker who, after 40 years of service, “retires with more than a greeting card, flowers and a gift voucher,” and to ensure all school staff have the protections and entitlements available to every other school staff member.