Mr. Andy Pike:

The disparity is mainly now due to the fact that if someone is employed by an education and training board as a clerical officer and assigned as a secretary in a school, they have a 52-week contract. If they are employed in the independent school sector by a school board of management, most secretaries are employed during term-time only. The gap in wages is that they will be earning 12 or 14 fewer weeks in terms of salary than their ETB counterpart. The pay gap is anywhere between 30% to 40%. The hourly rate is now coming together and is nearly the same because everyone is on the same pay scale. However, the difference in pay relates to the lack of a 52-week contract.