Leitrim councillor backs strike by Forsa school secretaries and caretakers

Fórsa is still planning on going ahead with a planned strike of school secretaries and caretakers and a Leitrim councillor has spoken out in support of the strike.

School secretaries and caretakers, who are members of the Fórsa trade union, are set to go on an indefinite strike on August 28.

Fórsa represents more than 2,300 school secretaries working in primary and secondary schools and 500 school caretakers and the mandate for indefinite strike action "follows the union’s efforts to secure access for school secretaries to the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, from which they remain excluded despite being on the Department of Education’s centralized payroll since 2023", according to Fórsa's website.

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Leitrim Cllr James Gilmartin, who is a secondary teacher in Magh Ene College, said that he supports them saying, "In fairness, they are not asking for a whole pile here; they are only asking for parity. The fact that they are not on the same pensions as teachers and SNAs isn't fair. From my own experience, a school secretary is the most important person in a school; they are the link between the school and the outside world; they knew every parent, every child; I'd have no problem supporting them."

He continued: "They have been calling for this for a long time and it's the department that is dragging their heels. That they are planning a strike at this stage is understandable. I'm in full support of it. The secretaries and the caretakers keep the school going and any principal will tell you a good secretary is worth their weight in gold. The fact that they even have to fight for it, is not acceptable. I don't understand why it's taking them so long to get it when the government has said they will."

He concluded: "The fact that their work is so critical to the running of an efficient school; without a good secretary or proper caretakers, the school wouldn't function. The are the lightening rod of the school when a parent rings up or when there are issues going on; they can notice things going on and a sense of how the students are that maybe a teacher wouldn't get; they see another side. I know in our own school, they are just fantastic."