SCHOOL SECRETARIES AND caretakers who belong to the Fórsa trade union will commence indefinite strike action tomorrow after a day of talks in the WRC failed to see the union and the Department of Education come to any initial agreement on a talks process. 

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

Speaking to The Journal this afternoon, Andy Pike, Fórsa’s Head of Education said that schools are “already feeling the squeeze” ahead of the planned strike action. 

“It’s going to cause very significant problems for schools, we know that schools are advising families that they won’t have anyone manning the phones, they won’t be putting out letters, and that they won’t be able to log into certain computer systems,” he said. 

Pike added that Fórsa wanted to see the Department of Education “provide written confirmation that they will start a process of talks around public sector pension arrangements”. 

A Fórsa spokesperson this evening told The Journal that the strike action is going ahead as the WRC has said that the positions of the Department and the union are “too far apart”. 

Some small primary schools could be forced to remain closed as a result of the strike action, but the Department of Education has said that schools will open as normal across the board. 

The post-primary teachers’ unions, ASTI and TUI and the primary-school teachers’ union INTO, have instructed their members to not carry out the duties and tasks of secretaries and caretakers. 

This means that extra staff cannot be hired to fulfil the role in the time that the strike is ongoing. 

Fórsa has told special needs assistants that if they want to join the picket it will be a personal decision, as they have not been balloted. 

“People have no security of income in retirement” in school secretary and caretakers roles at present, he said, adding that the current arrangements make those staff members feel like “second class citizens” compared to their colleagues. 

Fórsa has said that roughly 2000 schools are set to be impacted by the action which commences tomorrow. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Education has said that it recognises the importance of the work that secretaries and caretakers do within school communities. 

“In recent years we have made progress in improving the terms and conditions of school secretaries.

“This has included secretaries being placed on the payroll of the department and linked to any increases in pay under public sector agreements, improved annual leave entitlements, improved maternity provisions and paid sick leave in excess of the statutory requirement,” the spokesperson added. 

Secretaries in most schools have been on the public payroll since 2022, but they are not classified as public servants and therefore do not have the same entitlements to public sector pensions. 

The workers feel that they are being treated differently to others in the same sector and want parity. Secretaries and caretakers working at educational training boards facilities are typically employed through a local authority and are giving pensions.

The strike action marks a serious escalation in a decades-long row between the union and the department. 

Read more about why workers are striking here.