Teachers - Send This Letter To Your Union To Support Secretaries And Caretakers’ Strike
15 August 2025
The school secretaries and caretakers are going on strike on 28th August. They’re demanding things that other public sector workers take for granted: a pension; bereavement and sick leave; a proper contract; decent pay.
Teachers have a particular responsibility to show solidarity with the strike.
Principals should know that schools cannot open safely without caretakers and secretaries. Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in schools that are unsafe.
More importantly, as members of trade unions, as workers, the most important lesson that teachers have to teach is the lesson of solidarity.
The bottom line is: never cross a picket line.
Below is a sample letter that teachers can adapt and send to the executive committees of their respective union: Teachers’ Union of Ireland, Association of Secondary Teachers and Irish National Teachers Organisation.
The contact details:
“Letter to Executive Committee of TUI/ASTI/INTO
The Fórsa Secretaries’ and Caretakers’ indefinite strike is due to take place from 28th August 2025.
As teachers, as trade unionists, we are directly affected by this.
At a minimum, if this strike goes ahead we must not cross the pickets. To do so would undermine the most basic principles of trade unionism. Fórsa is the biggest public sector union; it is imperative that we act in solidarity with them.
In addition, schools cannot function without secretaries and caretakers; there are serious safety, welfare, and child protection issues at stake.
The situation is critical. Accordingly, we ask:
Will our Executive Committee call an emergency zoom meeting of the executive committee to discuss the upcoming strike by our sister union, Fórsa?
Will our Executive Committee issue guidelines to all members instructing them not to pass the picket lines of our sister union, Fórsa?
This instruction is consistent with one of the most basic principles of trade unionism - never pass a picket line.
It is also an instruction that puts the safety and welfare of our members first: a school without secretaries and caretakers is not a safe environment. There are clear grounds in law to support this instruction: Sections 8 and 12 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005; Fire Services Acts 1981 & 2003; Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995; Education Act 1998, Section 15 and the Children First Act all make crystal clear the obligations in place to make schools safe for children, workers, and visitors.
Will our Executive Committee initiate a process to ballot members of our union to take industrial action on safety grounds if the strike continues into September? Fórsa has voted to strike indefinitely. It is sensible to plan for that contingency.
Will our Executive Committee issue, in coordination with the other teacher unions, a Joint Solidarity Statement calling on government to grant, without delay, the demands of the secretaries and caretakers?
End the exclusion of school secretaries and caretakers from the Single Public Service Pension Scheme. Provide full access to standard public service leave and sick pay entitlements. Provide a single contract of employment for secretaries and caretakers
Will our Executive Committee conduct a campaign in social and traditional media that unambiguously supports the strikers.
Will our Executive Committee invite representatives of Fórsa to take part in online information sessions to explain the basics of the dispute to members of the teacher unions.
Will our Executive Committee take part in and help to organise public meetings to support the school secretaries and caretakers. These workers have broad and deep support of the public - taking part in such high-profile actions will show that when it comes down to it teachers can be counted on to stand up for what is right.
As teachers, we have responsibilities to our students. We teach the curriculum. We also teach things that are fundamental to any conception of a decent and dignified way of living in the world. Standing up and fighting for justice. Solidarity with striking workers. Taking active responsibility. Between the TUI, ASTI and INTO there are over 90,000 members. We have the numbers and we have the power. We need to use that power without delay.
We await your response.”
RED NETWORK