The School Secretaries branch of Fórsa is to lodge claims for improvements in sick leave and bereavement leave, following motions approved at its successful AGM held last Saturday (20th January) in Cork.

The union’s head of Education Andy Pike said: “The new School Secretaries Pay Agreement commits the Department of Education to discussing additional paid sick leave with Fórsa.

“Now that the process of assimilating members to the new pay scale is complete, we will request that management commence these talks.

“In parallel, we will lodge a fresh claim seeking the application of 20 days’ paid bereavement leave for school secretaries. This leave is already available to public servants on the loss of a close relative.

“This next phase of the campaign will seek to align School Secretary terms and conditions more closely with those of public servants,” he said.

Andy added that a strategy for making progress on the provision of pensions is being developed and will be discussed with the branch committee and the Education Divisional Executive in April.

At last Saturday’s AGM, branch chair Luisa Carty expressed thanks to outgoing committee members Edel Cooney, Susan Phelan and Lesley Davey and outlined the significant progress the branch had made during the year.

She added: “School secretaries received their first Department payslip in September, when payroll went live for those who signed up to the agreement.

“This was a momentous day, finally getting recognition from the Department. We are no longer the invisible ones in the education system,” she said.

Luisa said another breakthrough saw a second circular covering school secretaries issued by the Department, covering secretaries’ automatic increase in pay on 1^st October 2023.

She added: “That is why we must continue to bring in those secretaries who have stayed out of the union or are taking up the job for the first time. So, if you know anyone who is not a Fórsa member and working as a school secretary please reach out to them and invite them to join the union and help us make their working lives just that bit better.”

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