School secretaries and caretakers will “not be back in school in September” unless they are promised access to public service pensions, the country’s largest public service union has warned.
Fórsa, which represents about 18,000 school secretaries, caretakers and specials needs assistants (SNAs), held its annual education conference in Galway on Thursday.
The union’s head of education, Andy Pike, said that while school secretaries fought and won the right to be included on the Department of Education payroll, they continue to be denied access to the public service pension scheme.
“The simple message to schools and the Department of Education is that secretaries and caretakers will not be back to school in September if pensions are not dealt with over the summer,” Mr Pike said.
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Delegates at the conference passed a motion proposed by the union’s school secretaries branch to ballot members for an “all-out indefinite strike”, commencing at the end of August, unless there is progress regarding pensions access.
Meanwhile, the union welcomed the Government’s announcement of a redeployment scheme for SNAs, enabling them to move to a different school rather than having to take redundancy if the number of SNA posts in their school is reduced.
Responding to the announcement, Noreen O’Mahony, chair of Fórsa’s education division, said the new scheme is long overdue and brings SNAs a step closer to the full professionalisation of their role.
“We’ve been able to develop the SNA role through a series of negotiations over the last 20 years, which has established the SNA role as an integral feature of the school environment,” she said.
“That is significant, because it has changed the way we educate and socialise young people with additional education needs. However, the challenge remains to ensure that supported school places are available to everyone [who] needs them.”
Mr Pike added that redeployment has been one of the issues under discussion as part of the SNA workforce development plan and is linked to the ongoing review and discussions on a new SNA national contract.
He said a ballot of the union’s SNA members would take place on the outcome of those discussions, which will cover the new national contract, a new minimum qualification, career progression opportunities and training opportunities. The process is due to be completed by September.
The union also released details of a survey of its education members. It revealed high numbers – mostly SNAs – have been assaulted while in school.
Nearly half of those said they had no support with medical expenses, while nearly half also said their employer was not supportive. Most did not receive counselling.
