SCHOOL secretaries will stage a one day strike later this month when they will protest outside the Dáil over a long running dispute over pay and working conditions.
Kathleen O’Doherty, a secretary at Illistrin National School, is one of the many secretaries who will travel to the capital on September 15, the day the Dáil resumes, to send a clear message to politicians that they have had enough.
Speaking to the Donegal News Ms O’Doherty outlined their frustration at the lack of progress almost a year since Tánaiste Leo Varadkar gave a commitment to resolve the pay inequality issue. Most school secretaries earn just €12,500 a year, with irregular short-term contracts that force them to sign on during the summer holidays and other school breaks.
The dispute was referred to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) where, last July, the education department offered an increase of just 50 cent an hour. Ms O’Doherty, who has been involved in the campaign since 2005, described this offer as insulting.
“This is ongoing for such a long time. It is an insulting offer they gave us and we have to take a stand,” she said.
“We cannot be treated the way we are. We are valuable to schools and we have shown that through our campaign. We want fairness, that is all we want. We are not being unreasonable, we have given the Department a long time to come up with something agreeable.”
Ms O’Doherty said their union Fórsa is currently organising transport for the Dublin rally and they are hoping as many secretaries as possible from across the country will join them.
Fórsa will also have pickets on the Dublin headquarters of the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), which they accuse of blocking the implementation of the Government commitment to standardise pay and conditions of school secretaries. Fórsa is currently balloting school caretakers as they are also disadvantaged by the pay inequality. They will join the strike if the ballot result backs strike action.
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