The education union is stepping up the teachers’ strike and withdrawing a further 1,800 members from Monday. The union is asking the government for help to end the strike. Thus, the union will have 8,100 members on strike. In addition, there are just over a hundred members from the National Association of Schools and the Lecturers’ Association on strike. Askøy, Alver, Øygarden and Hustadvika are new withdrawal areas. Kindergartens and pupils in first grade are also screened this time, writes the Education Association in a press release. The Education Confederation believes the government must step in and put pressure on the red-green majority on the board of the municipal organization KS in order to end the strike. – KS has rejected our proposed solutions and shows direct reluctance to end this strike. We have put proposals on the table that can help to give students more teachers with teacher training, help to ensure that teachers do not become salary losers once again – and give teachers with long education and experience a better result, says Utdanningsforbundet leader Steffen Handal. He says he deeply regrets that the Ombudsman had to give up trying to find a solution that both parties could live with. KS speculates that the students will eventually be hit so hard that the strike will end with a forced wage board, he believes. – Our proposed solutions were sober and can be carried out without breaking the front-line framework, emphasizes Handal. KS has previously denied that they have not met the teachers. Negotiator Tor Arne Gangsø indicated last week that they have submitted a concrete proposal for a solution. He also reacted strongly to statements that KS would speculate on a forced wage board. – It is a completely baseless claim. It is the Education Association that chooses to step up the strike, he told NTB on Monday.
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