The impatience with the teachers’ organizations and the employers in KS may be about to reach the top of the government apparatus. Several sources inform news that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) himself expressed that the parties should meet for new mediation, before the weekend’s talks took place. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) is said to have personally expressed that the parties in the teachers’ strike should meet for new talks with the Ombudsman. Photo: Anders Tvegård / news news knows that it was conveyed to the national mediator ahead of the weekend’s mediation meetings, that the prime minister himself wanted new talks to be held. It is unusual for the government itself to initiate new rounds of mediation between parties in an ongoing conflict. National mediator Mats Ruland himself is said to have conveyed the message to the parties during the mediation meetings at the weekend. The message was perceived by many as pressure from the government on both parties to find a solution. But the weekend’s talks also broke down without agreement between the three striking teachers’ organizations and KS. – As the situation is now, with the distance between the parties, I have no basis to present an outline for a solution either, said national mediator Mats Ruland when the parties went their separate ways on Sunday afternoon. Disappointed Handal The education association’s leader Steffen Handal was very disappointed after the weekend’s talks with the national mediator. – I am a representative of 190,000 teachers, who sit down at the negotiating table for the nth time with an employer who does not have the necessary mandate to meet us. This will mean that the teachers will also lose wages in the years to come, and that is completely unacceptable, said Handal. The education association’s leader Steffen Handal was disappointed after the weekend’s talks with the national mediator. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB – It’s a sad day. We have worked hard and stretched ourselves very far. KS had hoped to find a solution to the strike so that the students could return to school, said the teachers’ negotiating partner, Director of Labor Tor Arne Gangsø in KS. Steffen Handal believes the politicians must now step in and equip KS with a “mandate to end this conflict”. In plain language, the teachers’ strike general wants fresh money on the table. – He needs a further mandate to meet us, so that the teachers are not wage losers in the future as well, Handal said on Sunday. The parties in the teachers’ strike met for talks at the Riksmekleren on both Saturday and Sunday. Then there had been no similar contact since Monday last week. The meetings took place after Knowledge Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap) on Friday afternoon called the parties in for talks in the ministry. – For me, it has been important to emphasize that the answer and solution to the conflict and the strike still lies with the parties, said Brenna after Friday’s meeting. Education Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap) called the parties in for talks on Friday, but had no fresh money or new promises to make, according to Steffen Handal in the Education Association. Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / NTB Forced salary committee After the weekend’s talks broke down, Brenna stated to NTB that the situation is becoming more serious for the students with each passing day. Brenna has asked the state administrators to report to the directorate on how the strike affects children and young people. Both the Children’s Ombudsman, the Parents’ Committee, the Council for Mental Health and the Student Organization have expressed that the strike must end. The question they ask themselves is whether the government will soon intervene with a compulsory wage board to end the strike. news knows that the government is well underway in assessing the legal basis for the compulsory wage board. Formally, it is the Ministry of Labor that will call off the strike, if the government decides to resort to a compulsory wage board. – It is still the responsibility of the parties to find a solution. The Ministry of Labor and Inclusion is following along, as in all labor disputes, Minister of Labor and Inclusion Marte Mjøs Persen told news on Sunday. Compulsory wage board * In Norway, we have no law that regulates the authorities’ right to intervene in a strike. Therefore, a separate bill is always presented to the Storting in the individual case if an intervention in the right to strike is relevant. An Act on Compulsory Wage Boards prohibits further strikes. * The right to strike follows from the Constitution and is otherwise enshrined in international conventions. * However, the right to strike is not absolute. Intervention can be taken in a conflict if it leads to danger to life or health, or has other serious social consequences. * Where such boundaries go will depend on a concrete and holistic assessment in each individual case. However, the threshold for resorting to a compulsory wage board must be high. * In the case of a compulsory wage board, it is the National Wage Board that is tasked with deciding the outcome of the strike. The tribunal consists of one chairman and eight other members, including two representatives for each of the parties in the individual case. * Since the first Wage Board Act was passed in 1952, around 150 labor disputes have ended in a compulsory Wage Board. (Sources: Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, NTB and Store Norske Leksikon) Possible reform The teachers’ organizations have been clear that more money needs to be on the table to be able to resolve the conflict. Until now, the workers have not wanted to settle for promises of reforms or long-term political measures. Nevertheless, news knows that such topics have been recorded during the mediation between the parties, also from the government’s side. For example, it has been discussed again whether the teachers should be lifted out of the KS settlement, either by being moved back to the state or becoming a separate tariff area. However, such a reform is a long way off and the proposals have not so far contributed to resolving the conflict. But the teachers’ organizations have over time been critical of how KS manages its employer responsibility. And from the government’s side, there is a concern that an intervention with a forced wage board will only lead to the conflict flaring up again during the wage settlement next year. The strike started small on 8 June and has been stepped up several times after the start of school this autumn. A new escalation with 300 new teachers has been announced on Wednesday. Around 8,450 teachers will then be on strike. The vast majority are members of the Education Association, but also the National Association of Schools and the Norwegian Association of Lecturers have 107 and 89 members respectively on strike. Challenging picture The teachers’ strike is difficult for the government in several ways. Firstly, because the three teachers’ organizations were the only ones to reject the negotiation result when the municipal settlement went to mediation this spring. All the other confederations, 38 in number, accepted the collective agreement. If the teachers are now to receive more salary growth than other groups of municipal employees, this could be seen as unfairly rewarding the strikers. – Unions that have already approved the result will be able to demand to negotiate again, said LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik to news last week. The National Association of Schools is part of LO, but Følsvik has not been very clear in its support for the strikers. – In the municipal sector, you are in the special situation that one of LO’s unions has said no to a negotiation result that all the other unions have accepted, said Følsvik, who emphasized that she supports the teachers’ right to strike. Another factor that complicates the matter is the negotiating mandate itself that the municipal politicians have given KS this time. The board of KS consists of politicians, and chairman Gunn Marit Helgesen from the Conservative Party told news last week that this time they would prioritize the health and care professions.
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