Dear members, 

You may have read and heard media reports concerning a statement made by Minister Helen McEntee yesterday evening, suggesting the parties return to the Workplace Relations Commission for talks to resolve the school secretaries and caretakers’ dispute.

Fórsa’s position is that, at the moment, there is insufficient information available to indicate that any future talks would be about how and when secretaries and caretakers can be integrated into the public service pension scheme. 

If a formal WRC process were to commence, it would in all likelihood require the strike action to be suspended prior to the talks commencing, which would risk diminishing the strength and power you have demonstrated during the strike this week.

We believe that a return to the WRC (should a formal invitation issue) would risk repeating what happened in 2022, when efforts to resolve this issue were shut down by the Department of Public Expenditure. There remains an absence of trust sufficient to suspend the indefinite strike action currently in place.

We know that being on indefinite strike is a huge undertaking and commitment for our members. 

That’s why we need to know that both government departments concerned are committed to talks that would actually determine the manner in which school secretaries and caretakers will be integrated into the public service pension scheme, and subsequently discuss the technical issues arising.

We do not believe that the forthcoming auto-enrolment savings scheme, due to be introduced early in 2026, is in any way comparable to the pension arrangements of teachers and SNAs.

At the moment, we have no indication that the government has changed its long-held position that school secretaries and caretakers should be happy to accept auto-enrolment.

The overwhelming public and political support for the current strike action exists because everyone can clearly see that access to the public service pension scheme is a fair and just demand.

In the interests of bringing the dispute to a conclusion, we would be willing to attend further exploratory discussions with the WRC and government representatives to ascertain if there is the basis now to proceed to formal negotiations. This would not require us to stand down the industrial action but would be an important step in building trust between both sides.

We know you want to be back at work, schools need to return to normal, and parents need certainty that our schools are not at the centre of a national dispute. 

We welcome this intervention by Minister McEntee today, which is a positive sign given it is the first engagement since the 27th August, the day before the strike. While there is not yet sufficient progress to enter formal talks and stand down the action, we will be available for further exploratory talks without preconditions in order to establish if there is a basis to proceed further.

We cannot risk stopping this strike only to be told when we are in the WRC that, yet again, there is no prospect of accessing public service pensions, and that the government position remains that our members can only have auto-enrollment, rather than the same entitlements as everyone else who works in the same school.

On that basis, and with a mandate of 98% of Fórsa members voting for indefinite strike to achieve our goals, the union remains open to talks on the basis that there is real commitment on how and when we can see these workers access the same pension scheme as their work colleagues.

In one week you have attended over 1700 pickets nationwide, built political support from over half the government TDs and doubled the amount of pledges in support of the campaign, which are now over 65,000. So please keep up the fight, attend your local demo today and we will win this together.

Yours,

Andy Pike

Head of Education