Recently, anxiety about the consequences of the strike has increased among students, school principals and parents. The easiest way to end a strike is for the parties to come to an agreement. But the teachers’ strike seems to drag on. Then the alternative is for the government to put its foot down and decide that there will be a compulsory wage commission. If the government is to take such a serious step, they must do so because life and health are at risk or because a conflict has “serious social consequences”. No one is investigating About this, Minister of Education Tonje Brenna said the following in an interview with news on Wednesday: – As Minister of Education, I, together with the ministry, the Directorate of Education and the state administrators, follow our own sector to see how things are going. We do that from time to time. RESPONSIBILITY: Education Minister Tonje Brenna is responsible for monitoring the consequences of strikes in her sector. Photo: Even B. Johnsen But neither the Directorate of Education nor the state administrators have initiated any systematic work to follow the consequences of the teachers’ strike. This is confirmed by news from several state administrators and from the Directorate of Education. The governing authorities have also not commissioned reports on the consequences of the strike as far as news has been able to survey. – We are following along, but this is a national strike. Then national governing authorities must order reports if it is relevant, says Gunnar Hæreid, who is assistant state administrator in Vestland, to news. – In other words, there have not been enough such orders? – No, not yet. Hæreid’s portrayal agrees with what other state administrators tell news. The state administrator in Agder is one of the others who confirms that they have not yet seen it as their mandate to investigate the consequences of the strike. ADDRESS: But the state administrator in Vestland has not written reports on the teachers’ strike, says Gunnar Hæreid. Photo: Kaia Viki / news The Directorate of Education also confirms to news that no reports on the consequences of the strike have been given to the government. “For the time being, we have not sent the Ministry of Education any assessments of the situation, but we are in dialogue with the ministry and the state administrators about what information we need and how we will obtain it,” wrote the communications department in the directorate to news. It is Labor Minister Marte Mjøs Persen who can decide that there will be a compulsory wage board. But the other ministries have a special responsibility to follow developments in their area and to provide information to the Ministry of Labour. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has an important role in this situation, the Ministry of Labor stated in a letter last spring. news knows that the consequences of the strike were the topic of a meeting between the Directorate of Education and the State Trustees yesterday afternoon, but that there was also no marching order for any systematic mapping of the consequences. The municipality follows along The strike area municipalities are, on the one hand, party to the case through the employer organization KS. But on the other side, they have an overview and could probably report this further. Bergen municipality is one of the municipalities that has been hardest hit by the strike. Director of Education for schools in Bergen municipality, Frode Nilsen, tells news that the municipality has been asking the schools and principals all along to tell them about the consequences for the school pupils. Among other things, this overview has meant that the municipality has created local activity measures for children and young people during the day, he says. But neither has Bergen Municipality communicated anything about the consequences of the system to which the Minister of Knowledge refers. – As of now, we have not sent any formal concerns to the state administrator, Nilsen confirms to news. But he emphasizes that the latest escalations increase the seriousness. – We are in a situation now where we are considering reporting concerns to the state administrator. The employer organization KS informs news that they have an updated overview of strike consequences in member municipalities around the country. But this is for internal overview and is not reported to the government’s apparatus. Not relevant for the health services The Norwegian Health Authority has previously told news that they do not look at pupils’ mental health during the teachers’ strike. This inspection also has a local apparatus at the state administrators, namely the county doctors. But neither do they look at the consequences of a strike. COUNTY DOCTOR: Andres Neset in Rogaland. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news The county doctor in Rogaland says that they did not do any work to map the consequences of the teachers’ strike, and says that this is in line with the guidance we have received from the Norwegian Health Authority. At a meeting this week, the county doctors were reminded by the health inspectorate that they should not have enough of a role in assessing the consequences of the teachers’ strike. – If we were to do work on this, we would have to get a clarification from the governing authorities that we should do it, says county doctor in Rogaland, Andres Neset, to news. Government pressure The state is big. So can there still be a city that has the overview? news has asked the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion if they have received any form of notification of a serious situation due to the strike. To that, the ministry replies that “communication during a conflict is not commented on and is exempt from public information”. But news is also aware that so far there has been no notification to the parties in the salary negotiations, the teachers’ organizations and KS, that the government considers the consequences of the strike to be critical. Sources who know the negotiation system well say that such knowledge that the government considers the consequences can often put pressure on the parties in the negotiation situation and help to force a solution. In this case, everything indicates that such assessments do not exist, but Minister of Education Brenna asked in Dagsrevyen on Wednesday that the parties make an effort to find a solution. That helped to increase the pressure on the parties, believes FAFO researcher Kristine Nergaard. Expecting a system Last week, the Children’s Ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh asked the Ministry of Education to obtain an overview of the consequences of the strike. EXPECTATION: Children’s center Inga Bejer Engh. Photo: Roar Strøm / news – What do you think about the fact that there does not seem to be enough mapping of the strike consequences? – I assumed that there is a system which today ensures that the government is informed about the negative consequences of the strike. If that system does not exist, I expect that it will be in place fairly soon. news finally asked the Ministry of Education and Science if they could document that a specific task had been carried out to monitor the consequences of the strike in the school and if Minister Tonje Brenna would comment on this. The answer came in writing: “The Ministry of Education has had a dialogue with the Directorate of Education. The directorate has a dialogue with the state administrators, where they clarify what information they need and how to obtain it.”
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No one reports on the consequences of the teachers’ strike – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
