School secretaries air their views on rights

A public meeting organised by Senator Ged Nash heard calls for fair pay and job security for school secretaries across Louth and East Meath.

The packed meeting, supported by Forsa trade union took place in Barlow House and was addressed by the Secretary of the Forsa School Secretaries’ Branch Elizabeth Phelan, Joe O’Connor the union’s Lead Organiser and Senator Nash.

“It was standing room only last Thursday night. Over 60 people attended the meeting, mostly school secretaries but encouragingly for the campaign, a number of local school principals, teachers and SNAs also took the time to come and support the calls for respect and job security for our school administrators,” Senator Nash said after the meeting.

“Of the 3,5000 school administrators employed across the country, under 10% are direct employees of the Department of Education. The bulk of school secretaries, along with their caretaker and cleaner colleagues, are the poor relations in the education system.

Employed directly by Boards of Management and paid from the ancillary grant received by the school, the most extreme cases see some secretaries earn as little as €12,700 per annum.

For many school secretaries in the system, there is no security of employment, no occupational pension and a requirement to go on the dole during the summer holidays.

“They are in effect second-class employees who are doing a first-class job. The Forsa trade union campaign seeks to persuade the government to end this unfair and unsustainable situation and to make all school secretaries public servants, just like the teaching colleagues they work alongside” adds the Labour senator.

“School secretaries are absolutely pivotal to the smooth and professional running of our schools. They are managers, administrators, accountants, counsellors and much more.”

Log on to www.forsa.ie/support-our-secretaries-campaign/and sign the petition to support the campaign.