A north west Forsa union member says talks that are to take place at the Workplace Relations Commission in an effort to end a school secretaries dispute will have to yield real and significant progress.
It’s after an ongoing work to rule by school secretaries has been suspended from this Tuesday morning after Forsa accepted an invitation to return to talks at the Workplace Relations Commission in an effort to end a row over what’s being described as a two-tier pay system.
The union claims about 2,000 secretaries employed by schools’ board of managements after 1978 — with the exception of those in ETB schools — are affected by the system.
Forsa says this results in some secretaries earning only about €12,500 a year, with irregular, short-term contracts that forces them to sign on during summer holidays and other school breaks.
Forsa member Frank Considine, a secretary in St Clare’s National School in Manorhamilton, says the Department of Education must treat all secretaries equally.
