WATCH: School secretaries and caretakers protest in Waterford 

School secretaries and caretakers from various Waterford schools gathered in the city on Tuesday afternoon to continue their picket and nationwide strike that began last week.

The dispute is over pension parity and how such people, even though they play a pivotal role in schools around the county and country, are not treated the same as public servants, particularly in terms of public service pensions.

Speaking to Waterford News & Star, David Hearne who is the caretaker in St Mary's National School in Ferrybank, Waterford, said the main issues for the Forsa union members is gaining having pension parity but also access things such as critical illness and bereavement leave, which is something members currently don't have.

He cited his own situation whereby his wife is a teacher in the school.

"For too long we've been denied access to this even though we work in a public service building, along with our colleagues who have the rights to these," said David.

"Our main campaign is for us to gain access to the public service pension scheme," he added.

David also said the campaign has received "immense support from all the unions" and some members of other unions have joined with the caretakers and secretaries on their picket.

He also said that "all of the teachers' organisations" are behind the campaign and that those involved are very appreciative of the support they have received from the union members.

"Not one person we've met has said 'you don't deserve that', every single person we meet tells us 'I can't believe you don't have that'," said David.

He said those involved with the campaign 

"If we were unfortunate to have a bereavement it's a straight forward process for her to get leave," he said.

However, he added that for him to get leave it's more complicated and that should not be the case.

While the campaign in Waterford was outside the office of Minister John Cummins those involved were not targeting him in particular but were more trying to highlight the fact that what they want is for discussions to take place at Government level.

David said those behind the campaign want the Government to sit down with them and discuss their concerns and to talk things through.

"We are all adults and we just want to sit down and get this situation resolved before schools start getting affected," he said.

Watch a video of David speaking on the matter to waterford-news.ie below 

Read more about the protest across Waterford here.