The Labour Court has recommended the issuing of lump sum payments at retirement in a bid to resolve a pensions dispute involving school secretaries and caretakers.
The row saw around 2,600 school secretaries and caretakers, who are members of the Fórsa trade union, engage in strike action for over a week at the start of the school year last year, impacting around 2,000 schools.
Fórsa withdrew the strike action after an agreement was reached to engage in a process to resolve the dispute and to negotiate pension entitlements for school secretaries and caretakers that are comparable with teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs).
The Labour Court recommendation proposes a model combining the State Contributory Pension (SPC) and the new auto-enrolment system, MyFutureFund, with an ex-gratia lump sum payment at retirement.
The gratuity is designed to bridge the identified gap with comparable SPC and Single Public Service Pension Scheme outcomes.
Under the terms set out by the Labour Court, staff aged 40 and over at the point of acceptance would receive a retirement lump sum, calculated and payable on retirement from age 66, using a defined formula.
The payment would be subject to a ceiling of €20,000 and a floor of €3,000, and applied on a pro-rata basis to part-time hours.
Fórsa has welcomed the Labour Court recommendation.
“This is the first time a clear and workable pathway has been set out to address the historic exclusion of school secretaries and caretakers from comparable pension arrangements,” said Fórsa Head of Education Andy Pike.
“It has the potential to bring an end to more than 40 years of inequality for a workforce that has been essential to the functioning of our schools,” Mr Pike said.
The recommendation will now be considered in detail by Fórsa’s School Secretary and School Caretaker branches.
The union said its representatives would now return to the WRC as soon as possible to finalise the details of other outstanding claims.
These include a new school caretaker pay structure, increased sick and acute illness leave and improved bereavement leave.
“Once that last phase of the negotiations concludes, members will have the opportunity to fully assess the pensions recommendation and the outcomes on the other claims and express their views in a ballot to determine acceptance or rejection,” Mr Pike said.
Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton thanked the Labour Court for its intervention and said the Government will closely consider the recommendation.
“The parties remain in process, and my department remains committed and ready to engage with Fórsa to reach a resolution on this important matter,” Ms Naughton said.
“As with any industrial relations process, where engagement is sensitive and complex, the matters under discussion are confidential until this process concludes,” she added.
