Message To The School Secretaries And Caretakers

To school secretaries and caretakers:

We are writing to school secretaries and caretakers who took a monumental stand against the government in your recent strike action. Your actions were an inspiration to workers all across the country. We wanted to let you know that we have not forgotten your struggle and we want to encourage you to keep fighting.

It’s a disgrace that there has been no progress in the WRC. It’s now clear that the Government and the Department of Education had no intentions of negotiating with your union.

They went into talks in order to keep schools open, because they knew if the pickets had continued schools would have been forced to close. This is why we think it was a mistake to stand down the pickets until there was a deal on the table. The FÓRSA leadership should have kept the momentum going especially considering the strong public support for the strike.

What can you do now?

We think it’s crucial that secretaries and caretakers put pressure on your union to keep the fight going. FÓRSA should request a Labour Court hearing because the government is not negotiating in good faith. That should be a path towards resuming pickets.

We know you don’t want to be out on the picket lines, but it’s clear that the government won’t take you seriously unless you shut down the schools. The SNA’s should also be balloted for strike action and the teachers unions should be pressured into solidarity action.

Our councillor Madeleine Johansson also raised the strike at the September Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin area committee meeting of South Dublin County Council. You can watch the debate on the council’s website.

If you want to speak to other FÓRSA members or members of the Red Network about what to do next feel free to contact us anytime on this website or email: rednetworkirl@gmail.com