'I won't sign on, it's demeaning': School secretaries will strike tomorrow over pay

Image: Shutterstock/Kycheryavuy Image: Shutterstock/Kycheryavuy SCHOOL SECRETARIES ARE going on strike tomorrow for one hour, before commencing a work-to-rule action indefinitely after talks over pay and conditions collapsed yesterday.

A few hundred school secretaries are paid directly from the Department of Education, but the majority of the country’s 3,500 school secretaries are paid through the ancillary grant, which is awarded to schools by the Department annually. The Department does not recognise these secretaries as its employees.

The Department has said that it needs school boards of management and/or principals to complete a survey on secretaries’ pay before they discuss conditions. The closing deadline for this survey, which was sent out on 2 September, is tomorrow. “When it comes to holidays, I won’t sign on. I can’t do it. I’ll keep myself busy with other jobs so I don’t have to – face painting, window painting, and I started AirBnBing the house years ago. I just couldn’t sign on, it’s just demeaning going into the dole office. You feel so small.” She says that although her school is very supportive, it can’t provide sick pay or pension provisions for her through the grant alone.

The spokesperson said that at yesterday’s meeting, the Department told Fórsa that its claim would be “fully considered once the current costings have been determined on completion of these surveys”.

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