Limerick's school secretaries on strike have Sinn Fein's support says Senator Gavin

SCHOOL secretaries who have taken industrial action have the full support of the party., Sinn Fein Senator Paul Gavan has said

Speaking after visiting the picket line at Gaelscoil Castletroy in Limerick Senator Gavan said:

“School secretaries are invaluable members of our schools and our communities, often working above and beyond their job requirements.

“They work on the front line and are the first port of call for parents and students. Without them, our schools would simply not function. I want to put on record that they have the full support of myself and Sinn Féin.”Senator Gavan claims this dispute centres on the fact that the majority of school secretaries, over three thousand, earn as little as €13,000 a year with irregular, short-term contracts and no pay during summer holidays or school breaks.

“This is compounded by the inequality that persists between them and the few hundred school secretaries who are paid directly by the Department of Education with starting salaries of €24,000.

“Secretaries have low pay, no holiday pay, no sick pay, no real job security, certainly no occupational pensions, and no access to public service salary scales.

“The public service should be a leader in providing fair pay and conditions for employees, but school secretaries have fallen through the cracks.”