– If the municipalities are to be able to compete with hospitals for health and care personnel, and with a development where more elderly people need health services from the municipalities, then we have to do something about night and weekend supplements. We did that in the salary settlement in line with what the municipalities reported, says Gunn Marit Helgesen (H) to news. Helgesen is chairman of KS, which negotiates for the municipalities as employer in the wage settlement. She was a guest in Politisk kvarter on Thursday. She believes that the priorities in the salary agreement were well politically anchored before the salary agreement, which led to conflict with three teachers’ organisations. Back cover Helgesen says KS has prioritized a pay rise for the entire municipal team and especially for young, newly employed with a high level of expertise. Four months after the break with the teachers, the relationship between the teachers’ organizations and the municipal organization KS is seriously sour. Several teachers’ voices have called on the politicians and believe it is a political responsibility that the teachers have fallen behind in terms of pay. But KS’s negotiation strategy is politically determined. All municipalities and county municipalities give input to the KS board, which adopted a mandate. And in it the teachers were not given the highest priority. – We received input from all our municipalities before we in the central board gave a mandate to our negotiators, says Helgesen. Politically controlled investment The negotiating mandate itself, which KS’s main board adopted on 5 April before the negotiations started, points to the challenges KS sees: “KS believes that priority should be given to changes in the main tariff agreement that support the competitiveness of the municipal sector in the labor market.” In the case papers that the local politicians on the KS board received before they adopted a negotiation mandate, the following is stated about the feedback from the municipalities: “At the same time, it is clearly expressed that if some groups are to be prioritised, there must be job groups with special recruitment challenges, and in particular rotational positions in health and the care sector.” Also in a public note that the KS administration has written later, the KS points in particular to the recruitment challenge in the health and care sector. Ask for input Before the salary settlement, KS sent out a debate booklet which was discussed regionally in the 11 current counties. Here KS asked the members, i.e. municipalities and county councils, about what they would like to prioritize in this year’s wage settlement: “Should KS seek to give all employees with central wage setting as good, general wage development as possible, or is a redistribution desired with a clearer prioritization of certain job groups over second? If so, which ones? » And perhaps it was already here that the teachers lost this year’s salary. STRIKE: Full conflict between the teachers and KS. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Focuses on health Because in their priorities, municipal politicians largely focus on nurses and other health and care personnel. Teachers are mentioned to a far lesser extent. news has gone through the compilation document in which the recordings are summarized. The decision was the basis for the negotiation mandate KS adopted. Here is an overview of which job groups the various counties explicitly mention: Viken: Mentions no specific groups, but “university groups with recruitment challenges”. Will prioritize supplements for rotation and inconvenient working hours, typically applicable to health and care. Inland: Mentions health and care. Vestfold and Telemark: Mention both health and care and education. Agder: Mentions nurses and child protection. Vestland: Mentions both nurses and social workers, teachers, social workers and engineers. Rogaland: Mentions both nurses and social workers, teachers and social workers. Møre and Romsdal: Does not mention position groups, but will prioritize supplements for night/evening/weekends that typically apply to health and care positions. Trøndelag: Will prioritize healthcare personnel. Nordland: Mentions the health and care sector. Troms and Finnmark: Peikar on the health and care sector. Most counties generally point to the fact that university-educated groups should be prioritized. 3 of the 11 counties singled out the teachers specifically, while all in one way or another argue for the need to prioritize those who work in health and care. The argument that is often used in the written records is that there are the greatest recruitment challenges within this part of the municipalities’ operations. – It was also one of the signals from the local government in Norway that we had to increase the allowance for working nights and weekends, said Helgesen in Politisk kvarter on Thursday. – The municipalities report major recruitment challenges when it comes to healthcare workers, nurses and other healthcare personnel, she explains. – Then the teachers are a lower priority then? – We have also made sure to recruit new employees with a high level of expertise in the subjects we need, including teachers. This means that all young, recent graduates get a big boost, including several thousand teachers. – But not those who have been in the profession for a long time? – No, it is perhaps this profile that the teachers’ organizations disagree on, but which all the other trade unions think is wise. Cross-political SEMJE: Ådne Naper represents SV in KS’s central committee. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news Also on the other side of the political spectrum in the KS board, the analysis is that this year’s salary negotiations have actually been in line with political wishes in municipal Norway. – We feel that the exercise of the mandate is in line with the guidelines the municipalities have given, yes, says Ådne Naper, SV politician on the KS board to news. – The municipalities will probably lift all groups as best as possible. But if something differs, there are enough conditions in health and care, he adds. Provoked Helle Christin Nyhuus, leader of the Norwegian Association of Lecturers, is provoked by what Helgesen says about the priorities of municipal politicians before the salary settlement: PROVOCATED: Helle Christin Nyhuus, leader of the Norwegian Association of Lecturers. Photo: Hanna Johre / NTB – I would like to encourage all the country’s politicians in all the country’s counties to go to their own schools and explain the clear deprioritisation they have made of teaching staff also in this salary settlement. They have the power to set the conditions for wage settlement, now they must dare to be responsible for their employees.
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The local politicians prioritized the teachers before the wage settlement – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
