10th January 2020
This Friday, 10 January, school secretaries represented by Fórsa will hold a national one-day strike and commence a work-to-rule campaign from Friday until further notice as they escalate their industrial action.
Fórsa is seeking to address a two-tier pay system, which leaves most school secretaries earning just €12,500 a year, and on irregular short-term contracts with many having to sign on for unemployment benefits during the school holidays. The INTO supports the campaign to stand up for our school secretaries and their claim for fair treatment.
The INTO has met with Fórsa to discuss the escalation of their industrial action. INTO members will continue to carry out their normal teaching and related duties. Fórsa does not expect any INTO member to absent themselves from work during this industrial action. Where possible, we would encourage our members to show their support for any demonstrations which may take place outside their school either before or after their working day on Friday.
Following the one-day strike, FÓRSA school secretaries will also escalate their work-to-rule campaign to include a boycott of the OLCS system, ESINET, POD, FSSU and local in-house database systems such as VSware and Aladdin Schools.
The INTO is urging schools to ensure that substitute payment claims are processed on the OCLS system on Thursday, 9 January to ensure minimal disruption to the payment of substitute members for work done up to Thursday, 9 January. Substitute payments for the period 10 January to 24 January are due to be uploaded to the OLCS by Friday 24 January at the latest. Any members experiencing difficulties as a result of this aspect of the FÓRSA campaign are encouraged to contact the INTO directly for guidance.
INTO has sought a further meeting with Fórsa next week, with a view to assessing the situation in advance of the next date for entering substitute payments (Friday, 24 January). When we have further information for members we will put it on the website.