TEACHERS could be dragged into strike action from September 1st which could prove ‘very disruptive’ a school principal has warned.
Cllr Brendan McCarthy, who is principal of Union Hall National School, said a protest by school secretaries and caretakers could escalate in a row over public service pensions and terms of employment.
Up to 2,800 members of Fórsa, the Irish trade union for public service staff, will set up a picket line outside their respective schools, starting on Monday September 1st.
Because it is planned to be an indefinite strike, and not a single ‘day of action’, Cllr McCarthy warned: ‘This is going to be very disruptive.’
He said the level of disruption should not be underestimated because secretaries play a crucial role in every aspect of the set-up for the new school year.
Cllr McCarthy said schools will open on September 1st but there are still questions over whether or not special needs assistants, who are also members of Fórsa, or teachers, will cross the picket line.
‘People might pass the picket line in the first few days, but if the issue escalated I could see the INTO and other unions getting involved because it would be so disruptive in West Cork and elsewhere throughout the country.
‘Secretaries are so caring and so kind,’ he added. ‘They love their jobs and now junior infants on their first day of school are going to have to pass them which is a very awkward position for everyone.’
One secretary who will be attending both the Dublin and Cork demonstrations, and setting up a picket line outside the school at which she works, told The Southern Star:
‘There is still the perception that the role of secretary is something a woman will do for lipstick money.
‘But there is a lot of heavy administration work and accounting skills involved. The department of education is constantly sending us training webinars and we are constantly upskilling.
‘It’s not too much to ask to be included in the pension scheme and to have the same conditions of employment, such as occupational sick pay and bereavement level.’
The national secretary of Fórsa Andy Pike described the State’s continued refusal to confer public service status as ‘a calculated policy decision to maintain inequality, regardless of the cost to those affected. This policy has locked out several generations of school staff from secure income in retirement.
‘Despite working in the same schools, under the same boards of management, on the same departmental payroll as teachers and SNAs,’ he said, ‘they are treated as second-class staff.’
