A trade union representing school secretaries and caretakers will withdraw strike action and enter into negotiations with the Department of Education.<\/p>\n
Education Minister Helen McEntee described the development as \u201cbreakthrough\u201d following a \u201cweek of intense engagement\u201d between her department and the Forsa union.<\/p>\n
The union had recently said there was a lack of trust between workers and the department over re-entering talks to resolve a dispute over conditions.<\/p>\n
The striking workers are campaigning for 2,600 school staff to be included in the public service pension scheme and other entitlements.<\/p>\n
The industrial action began as thousands of schools prepared for the start of the new academic year.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Forsa said agreement has been reached at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) designed to bring the current strike to an end.<\/p>\n
It said action will be withdrawn to allow the implementation of the agreement.<\/p>\n
The union said the key element of the agreement is a Government commitment to negotiate comparable pension entitlements for school secretaries and caretakers.<\/p>\n
Forsa said this represents the first time the State has formally accepted the principle that \u201cthese essential staff should not be excluded from pension entitlements comparable\u201d to those available to teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs).<\/p>\n
In addition, the union said the agreement provides for structured discussions on other parts of the union\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n
This includes the conclusion of a pay framework agreement for caretakers, access to bereavement leave, access to sick leave and acute illness protocols, and the full implementation of payroll arrangements.<\/p>\n
Forsa\u2019s head of education, Andy Pike, said: \u201cTonight\u2019s agreement at the WRC is a major step forward for school secretaries and caretakers.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis agreement reflects the determination of school secretaries and caretakers, who have stood together over the past week in pursuit of fairness and equal treatment. It is now the responsibility of the State to honour this agreement and deliver on its commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement on Friday, Ms McEntee said: \u201cI very much welcome Forsa\u2019s agreement to withdraw strike action and enter discussions in the WRC with my department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have seen around the country the impact of strike action on school communities and want to acknowledge their resilience throughout to keep schools open for children and young people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have a responsibility now to make sure that these talks succeed so that secretaries and caretakers can resume their place at the heart of our schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth sides must come together with an open mind and good faith without preconditions or pre-conceived ideas of a final outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have great confidence in the WRC in their role as expert facilitators.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to now create space for this negotiation to take place and for normality to return to our schools next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Fianna Fail backbenchers criticised Ms McEntee\u2019s handling of the issue.<\/p>\n
Malcolm Byrne, a TD for Wicklow\u2013Wexford, told reporters: \u201cThere is a need for a much more hands-on approach from Helen McEntee to try to resolve that dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, Ms McEntee\u2019s party colleague and super junior minister, Hildegarde Naughton, expressed support for caretakers and secretaries.<\/p>\n
Speaking before Wednesday\u2019s Cabinet meeting, she told reporters that the Government needs \u201cto tackle\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n
Ms Naughton, a former teacher, added: \u201cI can\u2019t understand why school secretaries and caretakers are not treated like other staff members within the school setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey play an absolutely pivotal role. We can see that when they\u2019re not now present in schools across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I certainly would like the message to go out to them that this is something that has to be addressed by Government\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trade union representing school secretaries and caretakers will withdraw strike action and enter into negotiations with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-3127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}