Louth secretaries and caretakers join nationwide strike

School secretaries and caretakers took to Market Square in Dundalk this week as part of a nationwide strike calling for equal pension rights and conditions with their teaching colleagues. Gathering outside the local offices of Fianna Fáil TD Erin McGreehan, the workers were joined by representatives of the trade union Fórsa, who say the dispute highlights a long-standing inequality in Ireland’s education system. Speaking to the Dundalk Democrat, Fórsa President Martin Walsh outlined why staff have been striking.

“The school secretaries and caretakers are here today because of an inequality within the system. Currently, teachers and SNAs have the benefit of being public servants so by definition they’re entitled to a pension after working thirty or forty years, and they’re also entitled to the terms and conditions of being public servants, the likes of sick leave and things like that.”

Mr Martin said that, in contrast, caretakers and secretaries were “working for no pension, so there’s an inequality there because they’re all paid by the Department of Education.”

“Teachers and SNAs qualify for the full pension and the public sector benefits, whereas colleagues here have given years of their lives to schools [and do not], and everyone knows schools can’t function without their school secretaries and caretakers. The first point of contact in any school is your school secretary. 

Fórsa President Martin Walsh

“Unfortunately, we’ve had to come out to strike to highlight how vital the roles of the secretaries and caretakers are. At the minute, thank God, we’re getting great support from the teachers and the school principals and the general public. People genuinely think that because you work in a school, everyone gets paid the same, but they don’t. So what they’re really striking for is equality and to be treated the same as the people they work beside. 

The Fórsa president stressed that the strike’s impact reaches far beyond the school gates and has a wider impact.

“One thing about this strike is that it affects every family, it’s not just the people who aren’t getting their pensions and the sick scheme, but people who have kids in school that need help and rely heavily on the school secretary when the kids are sick and the caretakers who do their bits and pieces. It has a much broader impact than on just the actual schools.

“Our politicians are very much aware of it. Helen McEntee was at our recent education conference and from the podium 100% supported our position. She has since come out and said there’s nothing she can do about it, but I don’t believe that to be the case. I believe that as an elected member she should be there fighting for the cause of the people who elected her.”

Asked if Fórsa members were prepared for a prolonged dispute, he was clear that the campaign would not be abandoned easily.

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“We’ve been fighting this for ten years; this isn’t something that has just come to light in the last couple of months. Fórsa has been fighting this inequality for ten years. We’ve never really been able to get traction on it because the government doesn’t see that group of people as a significant cohort. You’re talking about two or three thousand people who are affected by this, so it’s very difficult for the government to say,’ well you know what you’re a small group’.

“The short answer is we will be here for the long run. We’re going to stay out for as long as it takes because we have to. There’s no turning back. We’ve been fighting this for ten years and we can’t walk away from it now. They [secretaries and caretakers] can’t walk away from it now; they deserve pensions, and they deserve the same conditions as the teachers and the SNAs.”