A school secretary for 19 years, Fiona Stack wants politicians to tell her straight that she does not deserve a pension.
“That’s what they seem to be saying. I just want them to say it to my face,” she said, as she joined striking colleagues outside the Dáil on Tuesday.
Ms Stack, who works at Gaelscoil na Lochanna, in Blessington, Co Wicklow, was one of 200 or so school secretaries and caretakers who staged the late morning rally at the gates of Leinster House. Passing bus drivers and many other motorists made their backing loud and clear.
There has been no engagement between the two sides in the dispute since a brief and unproductive session at the Workplace relations Commission last Wednesday.
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However, trade union Fórsa said the strikers have received expressions of support from 40 TDs, senators and MEPs belonging to Government parties. The list includes Minister for Employment Peter Burke and several Ministers of State, including Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran at the Department of Public Expenditure, which would have to approve the financing of any pensions deal.
“We have Government representatives lining up to tell us they support us, but no sign of those words translating into any form of Government action or policy,” said Fórsa’s Andy Pike. “This ensures the strike will continue.”
Ms Stack said the workers’ employment status was altered two years ago and they were added to the Department of Education’s payroll. However, she said, the department did not afford secretaries “public service recognition, and that’s what we’re fighting for”.
“We are not entitled to a pension, we’re not entitled to bereavement leave, we’re not entitled to critical illness leave, and we get a very meagre sick day entitlement,” she said.
She and other secretaries “just want the same as the colleagues we work with”. She listed teachers, special needs assistants and lollipop people as examples of workers in the sector who get a pension.
“Literally, all we’re looking for is parity. For the dignity of being able to retire with a little bit of comfort, not into poverty,” she said.
[ SNAs refuse to cross picket line at two special schools in DublinOpens in new window ]
A few metres away was Elizabeth Murphy and Paul Gilmartin, school secretary and caretaker at Lusk senior national school, as well as Ciara Delves and Goran Kresojevic, from the school’s junior wing.
“We’ve 75 years of service between us,” said Ms Murphy. “Paul is 37 years our caretaker but none of us has a pension.”
If one of them retired tomorrow “there’d be a nice box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers, and perhaps a little send-off; a bottle of whiskey or something for the lads, and then the State pension,” she said.
Whether they can secure something more with their strike action remains to be seen. There have been no talks scheduled since the action began last Thursday.
However, they said they are grateful for the support from colleagues and parents. The four are also confident the impact of their absence will escalate as the days pass and the backlog of routine tasks and problems mounts.
Mr Gilmartin recounted a daily routine that starts for him with opening the school gates each morning and ends with locking them again every evening. In between, there is a long list of the often mundane maintenance and other tasks that are the bread and butter of keeping school buildings open.
Ms Murphy said her secretary role is “about a lot more than answering the phones” and includes processing payroll, paying bills and liaising with parents.
The support received from teacher colleagues and parents has been “massive”, she said.
Ms Delves acknowledged this will not be enough by itself to deliver the improvements they are seeking.
“People say we’re the backbone of the school but do these people inside here think that?” she asked, gesturing towards Leinster House.
“Our absence impacts the children, it impacts the parents. They don’t want us outside the school picketing. They want us inside and that’s where we want to be.”
Meanwhile, a group of Fianna Fáil TDs, who say they have “very strong sympathies” for the school caretakers, have sought to have the issue discussed at next week’s parliamentary party meeting.
The group of 13 backbenchers have written to the chair of the parliamentary party and the party whips asking for a discussion on the issue while the votes are being counted for the party’s presidential candidate.
It is understood that several of the group have had discussions on the issue with their party colleague Jack Chambers, Minister for Public Expenditure, but they are critical of the Fine Gael Minister for Education Helen McEntee.
“We would really like Helen McEntee to take a more hands on approach as Minister for Education and bring all parties to discussion,” said one of the Fianna Fail TDs, Malcolm Byrne.
“She should come out and outline the issues involved. We would hope that the State’s industrial relations machinery would be utilised this week.”
But Government sources pushed back, insisting that the hands of the Department of Education were tied and any decision on granting public service pensions to the strikers was a decision for the Department of Public Expenditure.
