Secretaries may resume industrial action
by Niall Shanahan
 
Responding to the minister, Andy said the terms on offer were the “bare minimum any decent employer would be expected to provide during a pandemic.”
Responding to the minister, Andy said the terms on offer were the “bare minimum any decent employer would be expected to provide during a pandemic.”

Fórsa's School Secretaries branch is surveying its members on the resumption of industrial action in which members were engaged in January and February this year. 80% of those who have responded so far have backed strike action, including an indefinite strike. 

 

The union’s head of education, Andy Pike, said the move followed correspondence between the union and the education minister Norma Foley and a meeting at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) meeting yesterday (1st October).

 

He said correspondence from the minister failed to deliver a commitment to progress on any issue, including the provision of sick pay, maternity pay and secure employment, and confirmed that no progress had been made at yesterday's WRC meeting. Department officials said they would not agree to a Labour Court referral, despite a commitment made by the former education minister last year.

 

Andy informed the Department of Education and Skills at yesterday's meeting that likely industrial action would take the form of three stoppages on successive Fridays in October, followed by an indefinite strike in November if the row is not resolved. The results of the school secretary survey will be known on Monday (5th October), and the School Secretary branch committee will meet on Tuesday to plan next steps.

 

Andy said: “The minister sought to dampen expectations in advance of the resumption of negotiations. It would appear that she believes the provision of minimal paid Covid leave and access to occupational health services is enough to address our members’ claim,” he said.

 

Yesterday’s meeting at the WRC aimed to resume talks on the continuing dispute over a long standing two-tier pay system that leaves most school secretaries earning just €12,500 a year, with irregular, short-term contracts that force them to sign on during the summer holidays and other school breaks.

 

Fórsa represents more than half of the estimated 2,000 school secretaries employed directly by their school’s board of management and paid from the school’s ancillary grant. The union has sought to have school secretaries employed under public service terms, as they apply to school secretaries employed by the education and training board-managed schools.

 

'Bare minimum'

 

Responding to the minister, Andy said the terms on offer were the “bare minimum any decent employer would be expected to provide during a pandemic.” He challenged the minister’s revised estimates of the cost of meeting the claim by school secretaries.

 

“The minister’s general approach stands in sharp contrast to her party’s pre-election pledges of support. This is despite the manifesto commitments of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to resolve the issue.

 

"Once elected it seems those commitments just don’t seem to matter anymore. It is clear that the new Government has adopted a policy even more implacably opposed to recognising the value of school secretaries than the last. The position adopted by the minister would have to change significantly for there to be any prospect of the talks making progress” he said.

 

“This decision reflects the fact that the commitments made to members prior to the election have not been honoured. Members are also of the view that the position set out by the minister will prevent any progress being made,” he said.

 

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