THE LABOUR COURT must intervene in the school secretaries and caretakers strike, the Social Democrats’ education spokesperson has said. 

TD Jen Cummins said the Labour Court should assist in negotiations between the trade union Fórsa and the Department of Education to resolve the dispute as workers prepare to continue their strike action on Monday. 

Over 2,600 Fórsa members are asking for access to public sector pensions and other key entitlements.

On Thursday, the workers began their indefinite strike action after a day of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission failed to see an agreement between the two parties. 

Post-primary teachers’ unions ASTI and TUI, as well as primary school union INTO, have instructed their members not to take on any of the secretaries and caretakers’ roles during the strike action.

Today, Cummins criticised the “two-tier system” that has seen secretaries and caretakers left without public service status and a pension. 

“As we head into a new week, it is clear that the impacts of this strike are going to be felt in schools and something needs to be done to try to resolve it,” she said.

“As a matter of urgency, the Labour Court should now intervene to assist in the negotiations between Forsa and the Department of Education.

“All strikes are ultimately resolved via negotiation. There is no reason the Labour Court cannot take a proactive step to try to find a solution to this one.”

Over the last two days thousands of school secretaries and caretakers have taken strike action and mobilised in large numbers to demand pension parity.

From Monday the dispute will escalate with pickets at schools with the potential for widespread disruption. The failure of…

— Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) August 30, 2025

In a post to X, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald expressed solidarity with those striking and said it would escalate to pickets at schools. She echoed Cummins’s call for the Labour Court to intervene.

School secretaries have a wide range of responsibilities, including but not limited to payroll, manning the phones, acting as a personal assistant to the principal, providing administrative support to the board of management and also assisting with student welfare.

Chair of the union’s school caretakers branch, David Hearne, said the strike is about basic fairness.

It is to ensure that the school secretary or caretaker who, after 40 years of service, “retires with more than a greeting card, flowers and a gift voucher”, he said, and to ensure all school staff have the protections and entitlements available to every other school staff member.