Pay for School Secretaries and Caretakers 1/5/08

Statement by Declan Kelleher, President, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation on Pay for School Secretaries and Caretakers

Thursday, 1 May 2008
 
Government forcing primary schools to pay workers less than minimum wage.
 
Government under-funding of primary schools means that many secretaries and caretakers are being paid less than the minimum wage according to INTO President, Declan Kelleher.
 
“Most school secretaries and caretakers are employed by local school boards using grants from the Department of Education,” said Mr Kelleher. “The problem is that these grants do not allow Boards to pay a living wage.”
 
He told a meeting in Ennis, Co Clare (Thursday 1 May 2008) that each school is grant aided to the tune of €151.50 per pupil to pay a secretary and a caretaker. “This means that a 100 pupil school has just over €15,000 per year to pay both.”
 
“A secretary and a caretaker are essential to the running of a school yet government funding means that they can each only be paid €7,575 per year. How can any worker exist on €7,575 annually?” asked Mr Kelleher.
 
He said this failure by the state to properly fund such essential services in primary schools means that school caretakers and secretaries are regularly paid hourly rates which are well under the minimum wage.
 
“Primary schools should be institutions where models of good practice and fairness in employment are the norm,” he said. “This is not the case when it comes to secretaries and caretakers.”
 
“Not only does 21st century Ireland actively facilitate greedy employers to avoid paying a fair wage to workers, many of whom because they are foreign are vulnerable in this country, government actually leads by example,” said the INTO President. “This is a shocking indictment of our system.”
 
He said the strong revulsion expressed at the time of the Irish Ferries issue needed to be heard again. “Workplaces are more than a vehicle to provide unlimited profits to unscrupulous employers.”
 
He said this was a scandal which had to be dealt with immediately. “It must be resolved by the direct payment of all secretaries and caretakers by the Department of Education and Science. It is the height of hypocrisy for the state to legislate on the one hand for the implementation of a minimum wage while on the other hand, failing to enable primary school management to pay that very wage.”
 
ENDS.