On Wednesday, students were able to return to classrooms after the longest teachers’ strike of all time. On Tuesday evening, the parties were called in to report that there will be a compulsory wage board. By then it had been over a hundred days since the teachers’ strike started in Bergen. Announces new strike Leader Steinar Strømslid of the Vestland Education Association is surprised that a Labor government took that step. – The right to strike is the only weapon employees have. We must be very careful about moving the boundaries on this – and weakening it. He suggests that there is a risk of another strike as early as next year. – In the spring, we have new salary negotiations. If KS has not changed its position by then, I am very afraid of what will happen in the upcoming salary settlement, he says. He believes the problem is: One in five teachers in the school has no education. – Our members feel that they have an employee who talks down the teaching profession. Then we get a salary that is bad for six years in a row. They trample the teachers. It has been a hundred days since the Norwegian Education Association took the first teachers out on strike at Gimle upveksttun school. Now the union is suggesting that there could be another strike as early as next year. Photo: Charlotte Harrvik Sanden / news – Got a blow There was a poor atmosphere when the parties met in the Politisk kvarter the morning after the strike was called off. Leader Steffen Handal of the Education Association says that the teachers are angry, frustrated and disappointed. – The relationship of trust between teachers and employers has gained traction. It is very serious, he says. He points out that teachers have come out worse than the other professional groups in the public sector. – Trust is built when you believe that the other person in a relationship is going to want you well. There is nothing to indicate that. Leader Steffen Handal of the Education Confederation says that the relationship of trust between teachers and employers has gained momentum. Photo: William Jobling / news – Needed to see the whole team Leader Gunn Marit Helsen on KS’s executive board believes that tying salary requirements together with whether one is valued or not is wrong. – That we do not value the teachers is a strong exaggeration. The teachers are an incredibly important working group. We are keen to have good, qualified teachers and will work for that, she says. She emphasizes that KS has put more money on the table during the strike. – There was a clear message from the municipalities that this year we actually need to see the whole team. It has been a pandemic. We need nurses, cleaners, child protection educators. Everyone deserved a lift, she says. It is wrong that KS does not value the teachers, says Gunn Marit Helsen, leader of KS’ executive board. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB This is KS KS is the organization for the municipal sector. All Norwegian municipalities and county municipalities are members. Every year KS negotiates the annual collective agreements with the employee organizations on behalf of all municipalities and county municipalities, except Oslo. The central board of KS adopts a negotiating mandate for the collective agreement. Municipalities and county councils come to the fore with input. These are often treated politically. The main board of KS consists of 15 members, who take care of the day-to-day, political management of the organisation. The main board consists of politicians from different parties, from different parts of the country. The members are: Gunn Marit Helgesen (H), Jenny Føling (Sp), Terje Søviknes (Frp), Petter Sortland (Ap) and Hilde Onarheim (H), Sven Tore Løkslid (Ap), Odd Stangeland (Ap), Kari-Anne Opsal (Ap), Ådne Naper (SV), Arne Bergsvåg (Sp), Beate Marie Dahl Eide (Sp), Tore Opdal Hansen (H), Bjørn Alfred Ropstad (KrF), Gunhild Berge Stang (V). Source: KS – Conspiratorial populism Steffen Handal believes that KS has an alliance with LO that keeps teachers’ salaries down. – It is the case that KS has found an alliance with LO, which means that they graze on the teachers’ wage bill, he says. Deputy leader Steinar Krogstad in LO calls this a frivolous and tendentious attack. – This is conspiratorial populism that falls on its own unreasonableness. He emphasizes that Uddanningsforbundet negotiates with KS, not with LO or LO’s confederation. Unio and LO have negotiated together against KS and agreed on the main features of the collective bargaining agreements in the municipal sector. – He has to do the dishes internally before he attacks LO with untruths, says Krogstad. Deputy leader Steinar Krogstad of LO believes that Steffen Handal of the Education Association is engaging in a conspiracy when he claims that it is an alliance between LO and KS that is keeping teacher salaries down. Photo: Morten M. Loberg / Fellesforbundet
ttn-69
The Education Association suggests a new teachers’ strike already next year – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
