School secretaries and caretakers will go on strike later this month.
The action, which coincides with the beginning of the school term, is being held by the Trade Union Fórsa.
It’s calling for secretaries and caretakers to receive the same entitlements as their education colleagues, including a pension and access to bereavement leave.
David Hearne is Chair of the Fórsa School Caretakers branch and works at a school in Ferrybank on the Kilkenny/Waterford border – he says of the action; “It’s about equality in the workplace, at the moment secretaries and caretakers are not recognised as public servants, even though we work in a public service building, our colleagues in the school, the teachers, the principal and the SNAs, when they retire they will get a pension, on top of that they have access to proper bereavement leave, critical illness leave and sick leave, all of which we don’t have access to”.
