Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A small minority of school secretaries and caretakers are directly employed by the Department of Education and Skills, as mentioned already, but the majority are employed by individual school boards of management on precarious low-pay contracts. They are obliged to sign on during the summer holidays and do not get sick pay or a pension. They get paid an average of €12,000 plus. They are paid through the capitation grant schemes of schools.

It is not just about pay. Much of the Minister's statement was on pay. The secretaries want to be directly employed by the State, and rightly so. They want to have a pension. They want to get paid during school holidays and to get sick pay. This has been an issue since 1978. It is not as if it has suddenly sprung up in front of the Government. The Minister stated that he met school secretaries in his area and that he knows them, knows their experiences and knows what they are doing. I commend Fórsa on taking up the issue and organising the secretaries in this sector.

Some 94% of school secretaries have voted for industrial action to demand equal pay for work of equal value. That is a maxim I always stood up for when I was a Communications Workers Union shop steward in my job in An Post. It is one I always stand by now. It is a basic principle to have equal pay for equal work of equal value.

The work-to-rule action has withdrawn school secretaries from work and public service systems and databases on the basis that, because they are not paid or recognised as public servants, they will refuse to carry out the functions of public servants. In a letter sent to the Department on Monday, Mr. Pike, the Fórsa education organiser, advised that because there have been no discernible efforts made to resolve the underlying issues, Fórsa would shortly need to consider escalating the industrial action and to extend it to include another 150 schools where secretaries have joined the union over the past few weeks.Owing to the stance the secretaries have taken to date, more are joining the union and are willing to take a stand. I encourage every school secretary to join Fórsa in order to have their rights represented. Mr Pike went on to say, "We believe that it should not be necessary to take those measures, it is normal practice for both parties to use the services of the WRC and we see no reason why the department should refuse to participate in WRC conciliation".

I agree with Mr. Pike and it appears that most Deputies in this Chamber agree with him too. He asked the Department for a response by close of business today. He stated that if no response is received by the deadline, or if there is a negative response, further industrial action will have to be served on schools early next week. They will move quite quickly to call industrial action in schools next week if they need to do so. According to Mr. Pike, the Department has had time to analyse the returns from its survey of school principals. That is why I have asked about the closing date. I have heard it was two weeks ago. Mr. Pike has said the Department is aware of the likelihood of possible industrial action being escalated if it refuses to co-operate with the WRC.

My final point relates to the Minister's contention that it is standard practice in industrial relations procedure for industrial action to be suspended when it has been agreed to refer a dispute to the WRC. That is not my understanding. I understand it is more common for industrial action to be stood down when progress is made at the WRC. Disputes where low-level industrial action is ongoing are frequently referred to the WRC. It is wrong of the Minister to refer to this as a principle. He concluded his comments by urging Fórsa "to call off its industrial action to allow space for that process to take place". School secretaries know from experience that if they and Fórsa accede to this request, they will be drawn back into a process with no conclusion in sight. They want to get this dealt with. They want to go into 2020 in the knowledge that they are direct employees of the State. That is their bottom line. I fully agree with them and fully back them on it.

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