This morning school secretaries and caretakers have begun indefinite strike action in pursuit of pension parity with the teachers and SNAs they work with. Their union, Forsa, has been campaigning for parity in pension and other entitlements for school secretaries and caretakers for decades and has been left with no alternative but to begin strike action today.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said “It is a scandal that almost 3,000 school secretaries and caretakers have been forced to resort to strike action today to get what is rightfully theirs. Their union, Forsa, has been campaigning for decades for parity in pension and other entitlements such as sick leave for school secretaries and caretakers. They simply want the same entitlements as the teachers and SNAs they work with every day. The strength of feeling among Forsa members is demonstrated by the 98% vote in favour of strike action.”
“School secretaries and caretakers should be admitted to the public service pension scheme. It is a disgrace that the government did not give Forsa a written commitment to start a meaningful process to deliver pension parity. Forsa made it clear that if that commitment had been given to the workers they would not have had to strike. The government is to blame for the consequences”.
“I will join the workers’ national rally at 11am this morning at the Department of Public Expenditure to express my solidarity and my support for their demands”.
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See this link on School Secretaries' and Caretakers union website for up-to-date information:
Kate O’Sullivan