THE MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan has said that the five per cent pay cut imposed on around 17,000 school secretaries and non-teaching staff at the beginning of this year will not be reversed.
About 500 secretaries who are members of the Impact trade union have voted to strike over the cuts, complaining that they are already denied benefits extended to other civil servants, such as pensions. RTÉ reports that due to an anomaly in the hiring system for secretaries employed after 1990, many have no public service employment conditions, pensions or a standardised rate of pay – and earn little more than the minimum wage.
In response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell today, Noonan said all people employed by a public service body stood to have their pay cut from the beginning of 2010 - regardless of whether their wages were paid wholly or partly through non-exchequer funds or income.
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