Union to fight pay cut for school caretakers and secretaries

AN instruction to schools to cut the pay of caretakers, secretaries and other staff not directly employed by the state is set to be challenged by a union.

IMPACT said the order sent to schools by the Department of Education on Friday was thoughtless and ridiculously harsh, and claims that around 17,000 low-paid staff will be affected.

The cuts are to be applied on the same scale as those applied to public servants from last January in last year’s budget, with those earning less than €30,000 losing 5% and higher earners cut 7.5% on the next €40,000 of salary.

The categories of school and education staff affected include secretaries, caretakers, school transport bus escorts, community and adult education tutors, non-teaching staff in youth encounter projects and many other staff paid employed directly by schools or vocational education committees (VECs).

IMPACT deputy general secretary, Kevin Callinan, said most of the workers, particularly school secretaries, have waited for years to have their terms and conditions standardised and some had been earning less than or little more than the minimum wage. He said attempts to link their pay rates to those in the public service had been blocked for many years but now the Department was linking it by way of a savage cut.

The department’s letter to schools said the move followed legal advice and that such school staff could be defined as public servants in the context of the public service pay-cut introduced earlier this year.

There is an exemption in the rules which will prevent any cuts bringing a worker’s rate of pay below the minimum wage.

The Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) said the directive to cut the pay of secretaries and caretakers from January 1 is beyond belief, given that they play a pivotal role in the functioning of schools.

“Cutting their pay will mean hitting the lowest-paid workers in education,” said IPPN director Sean Cottrell.