Ms Ellen Murphy worked 22 years as a cleaner at Trinity College Dublin only to find out the day she was leaving that she would not receive an occupational pension. She is one of 137 part-time staff denied a pension because their names were not on a list submitted as part of a union claim months earlier.
Based on service, Ms Murphy felt she "should have been in the first four or five at least. I nearly went berserk at the idea of not getting a pension", she says. It will be another few months before Ms Murphy and her 136 colleagues will know if they have pensions.
The 161 staff lucky enough to be on the list perform similar part-time household, clerical and catering duties. They won the right to occupational pensions in October 2000, after a 10-year battle that culminated in two strikes and a Labour Court recommendation.
The amounts involved are not huge. If Ms Murphy had been on the list she would be entitled to £93 a month on top of her old age pension. But the cost implications for the Department of Finance could be significant if it creates a precedent where part-time, public service workers are automatically entitled to similar pensions.
Ever since the problem emerged a few months ago Trinity College, its pension fund, the Higher Education Authority, the Department of Education and Science, and the Department of Finance have been pondering how to deal with the problem. Ironically, 12 days ago the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, made an order guaranteeing part-time workers the same rights as full-time employees, including access to an occupational pension.
Problems were anticipated enforcing the legislation in sectors such as construction, but the plight of the Trinity cleaners suggests practical obstacles to implementing the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act, 2001, may be as big in the public service.
SIPTU branch secretary Ms Carmel Hogan says the union did not include all part-time staff in the original claim because, when a claim for equal pay was won in 1997, it was applied automatically to all staff, whether or not they were on the list. Post facilities for part-time staff at the college are limited to collection points at the two clocking-in machines. Shop stewards had to collect names by catching people as they signed on from 6 a.m. onwards. After three days SIPTU felt it had enough names for the claim.
Even if the claims are recognised, staff who joined the college since April 1995 will find they will receive an "integrated" pension, where every increase in the statutory old age pension will erode their meagre occupational pension by the same amount. Those like Ms Murphy fortunate enough to have longer service, will see their £93 a month remain intact. About 50 per cent of the 137 part-time staff involved have either retired, like Ms Murphy, or moved to other occupations. Many of these may never receive a pension.