Fórsa representatives will meet the Fine Gael parliamentary party this week to make the case for fair pay and pension provision for school secretaries and caretakers. The union, which has already met all the other major parties as part of its ‘Support Our Secretaries’ campaign, will also appear at the Oireachtas joint education committee next week.

In a recent submission to the committee, Fórsa said that most school secretaries are very poorly paid, with uncertain short-term contracts that force many of them to sign on during the summer holidays. The majority of school secretaries and caretakers are paid from ancillary grants and are not deemed to be public servants.

The union also highlighted the wide range of duties carried out by school secretaries. These include completing pay and pension returns for teachers, and undertaking many tasks necessary to ensure that teaching staff receive holiday pay, sick pay and other public service conditions of service.

Read the union submission to the Oireachtas committee HERE.