The union representing more than 3,000 school secretaries and caretakers who went on strike in September over their pension entitlements says further industrial action is likely if talks at the Labour Court this week fail. At that stage, the union said there had been a Government commitment to negotiate comparable pension entitlements for the school secretaries and caretakers. Almost four months on from the strike, Fórsa’s head of education, Andy Pike, said he is not “overly optimistic” that Monday’s Labour Court meeting will lead to a deal. This means the Labour Court has a “very difficult job trying to broker a solution”, he said. Whether the Labour Court’s involvement leads to an agreement or a court recommendation, the result will be put to the secretaries and caretakers in a ballot, he said.

Source: The Irish Times January 12, 2026 16:34 UTC