More than 2,600 school secretaries and caretakers stage strike action

""It's fantastic to see so many people today," she said. "I feel like we are only after winning an all-Ireland. This is the day we are going to make this happen, if we are ever going to make it happen. "We need the people inside this (department) building to listen to the voices who are employing them. All of you put them in this building. "There are so many different stories from people and this day is going to make the difference for all those who made the decision to come to Dublin in these numbers. "Up the school secretaries and up the school caretakers.""

"After a union-led campaign several years ago, secretaries in most schools were put on the public payroll in 2022, meaning they no longer had to sign on to social welfare during the summer holidays and became entitled to sick pay and maternity leave."

2,600 school staff seek inclusion in the public service pension scheme and related entitlements. Industrial action began as thousands of schools prepare for the new academic year. Engagement between the Fórsa union and the Department of Education at the Workplace Relations Commission ended without agreement. Many school secretaries were moved onto the public payroll in 2022 but remain mostly unclassified as public servants and lack pension and full entitlements. Hundreds of staff rallied and picketed outside the Department of Public Expenditure and on Merrion Street. Union leaders addressed large crowds and urged participants to remain committed to the campaign.

Read at Irish Independent