School secretaries across the country staged protests on Friday, demanding an end to their “humiliating” pay and conditions, which see most earning just over €12,000 a year, while being forced to sign on during school holidays.
Hour-long demonstrations took place at around 250 schools across Ireland, after talks between trade union Forsa and the Department of Education broke down earlier in the week.
Forsa said the dispute is over the government’s refusal to address a two-tier pay system that leaves most 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.
Felicity O’Dowd, the school secretary at St. Kevin’s NS in Greystones, Co Wicklow, said she felt she had no choice but to take part in yesterday’s work stoppage.
Flanked by teachers and parents, the popular staff member explained: “I am working 22 years and I am entitled to no sick pay and no pension.
“I have no recognised pay scale and every year have had to argue my case to get decent pay.
“In the beginning this was very tough to do. Now I do it and usually fall out with people over it.
“I am humiliated every year asking for what should be a right.”
Under the current pay regime which is in operation since 1978, only a minority of school secretaries are employed directly by the Department of Education, giving them full rights to sick pay and pensions and other benefits.
However, the bulk of staff – such as Felicity – are hired by school management boards.
Hghlighting what she describes as “the reality of no sick pay”, Felicity recalled: “I have never had sick pay, a right other members of the school community are entitled to.
“For me, this meant that during my working life I underwent 26 hours of radiotherapy without missing a day of work.”
She added: “I also sign on for five weeks over the summer. Anyone who has done this will know that the process is totally humiliating and time-comsuming.
“I am the only member of staff in my school who has to sign on.”
Meanwhile, the government said Forsa’s pay claim is a “follow-on claim from the current pay agreement”, which runs until the end of the year, adding that the union’s claim will be considered shortly.
Forsa’s head of education, Andy Pike, said: “The two-tier low-pay regime for school secretaries has been in force for more than four decades.
“In that time we’ve seen little if any serious engagement from the Department of Education.”
