“I knew they’d be supported but the level of what we’re seeing is completely unprecedented”
Around 2,600 school secretaries and caretakers began indefinite strike action last Thursday to demand access to public sector pensions, and other entitlements.
As the strike closes in on a full week, their trade union – Fórsa – said the backing their members are getting is “completely unprecedented”.
“I’ve never seen support like it, in terms of a dispute like this,” Linda O’Sullivan of Forsa’s Education Division said. “It really is unbelievable.
Thousands of school secretaries and caretakers who are Fórsa trade union members are on an indefinite strike. Photo: Conor McCabe
News in 90 Seconds – September 4th 2025
“I knew they’d be supported but the level of what we’re seeing is completely unprecedented.
“They’re not looking for anything extraordinary,” Ms O’Sullivan added. “They’re looking to enjoy the same benefits that their colleagues have, so when they’re sitting in a staff room, they’re respected and treated with parity.
“And all these other workers, the teachers and the principals have been very supportive of the ladies and gents that are out on strike.”
Ms O’Sullivan said the strike action is necessary as their members are denied access to a number of entitlements, including public sector pensions.
She said they just want to be treated the same as the teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) that they work alongside.
However, after talks at the Workplace Relations Commission failed to resolve the dispute, she said many of those still on strike would not have imagined they would be still there a week later
“It is now almost a week with no further engagement,” she added, “it’s just very disappointing.
“But the message from our members is, ‘hey Jack, we’re not going back’. So they know that this is an indefinite strike until our members get what they were balloted for, which is their pensions and their leave entitlements.
“There’s something very sad about seeing a number of these people who are of an older age on picket lines from the moment the school is open until the minute the school is closed and they are just asking for what they should have always had.
“These people are looking for pensions, number one, and then they’re looking for bereavement leave and critical illness leave.
“These are the benefits that their colleagues in schools enjoy, such as SNAs, teachers and principals. And some other secretaries have these same entitlements under varying different contracts but the rest of the secretaries, the ones that are out on strike don’t.
“So you could have a situation where you’ve two secretaries in the same office and one has these entitlements and the other doesn’t. It makes no sense.
“Our members are working in a public building,” Ms O’Sullivan argued, “So they should be identified as public sector workers and they’re not.
The secretaries and caretakers have also recently support from the country’s three main teacher unions.
The ASTI, INTO and TUI, have issued a joint statement calling on the Government to immediately enter talks with the Fórsa trade union to resolve the ongoing strike.
In a joint statement, the three teacher unions said that after a week of industrial action, schools are struggling to operate as normal.
“This situation is unsustainable,” a statement reads. “All industrial disputes are ultimately resolved through face-to-face talks, and it is now incumbent on the State to utilise its dispute-resolution bodies to propose solutions and effect an agreement that will settle the current dispute.”
“The three teacher unions urge Minister McEntee, Minister Chambers, and their respective departments to end the impasse by entering meaningful negotiations as a matter of urgency. The time for Government intervention is now,” they added.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee has previously said that her department is willing and ready to meet with Fórsa at the WRC to resolve the dispute.