On Saturday morning, KS and the teachers’ organizations Uddanningsforbundet, Norsk Lektorlag and Skolenes nationalsforbund were back at the Ombudsman to try to find a solution to the strike, which has lasted since June. A little over 4:30 p.m., Saturday’s meeting ended. Riksmekler Mats Ruland says they will continue on Sunday. – We have had good meetings and conversations, and we will continue tomorrow. The parties will probably need to work more internally until tomorrow, Ruland told the press after the meetings on Saturday were finished. – We have grounds to continue talking so we can see if it leads to a result. – We are not on target with everything. For there to be a solution, all elements in play must be resolved and they are not yet. Riksmekler Mats Wilhelm Ruland showed up with newly purchased bowls and proposals that he hoped could contribute to a solution to the conflict. The parties sat together at the Riksmekleren for over four hours on Sunday. Working life director Tor Arne Gangsø in KS says there is still a basis for talks. – We have sat here with the aim of finding a solution and there have been good talks between the parties. So there is still a basis for new talks? – We would not be here if there was no reason to talk together. We are determined to find a solution. That’s what it’s all about. We are primarily concerned with the students. And then we are keen to get the teachers back to work again, says Gangstø. Can be long conversations On the way in to the Riksmekleren, both the National Association of Schools and the Education Association were tight-lipped about what they had spent the break on. But leader of the Education Association, Steffen Handal, said they would hold on as long as there was hope. – We are looking for a solution that means that teachers do not fall behind in terms of pay, and that something is done about all those teachers who do not have teacher training who teach in Norwegian classrooms. The leader of the Education Association Steffen Handal says he will help find a solution to the teachers’ strike during the meeting at the Riksmekleren on Saturday. Photo: Hanna Johre / NTB Also on Sunday last week, the parties met at the Riksmekleren, but then the Education Association left the meeting after two hours. How long they will stay this time is unknown, says Handal. – We do not know how long this will take. It can take hours, or it can take days, he says. – Deadlock Saturday’s meeting came about after a meeting with Minister of Education Tonje Brenna (Ap) on Friday afternoon. The minister said that it should be up to the parties themselves to find a solution to the conflict. Riksmekler Mats Wilhelm Ruland was also prepared that it could be a long day at the office. – It is a deadlocked situation, and we will probably hold on for a long time today, he told NTB on the way into the meeting on Saturday morning. KS has previously said that they have little to offer in the negotiations, and that teachers cannot expect to get more than other occupational groups in the municipalities. Labor director Tor Arne Gangsø in KS was tight-lipped before the meeting with the other parties in the teacher conflict at the Ombudsman’s office in Oslo on Saturday, but said that they want to find a solution Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB But KS is also interested in ending the long-standing conflict . – We are only here to find a solution, said a tight-lipped working life director Tor Arne Gangsø in KS to TV 2 on the way into the meeting. Rejected application for dispensation Uddanningsforbundet announced on Friday that they will take 300 new teachers out on strike from Wednesday next week. This will increase the number of striking teachers to around 8,450. On Friday, Vestland County Council applied for an exemption for the students who are hardest hit by the teachers’ strike. But on Saturday, the application was rejected, and the county council was asked to submit an application to be a single teacher, as the main agreement states. – Then we will do it, says county director for education in Vestland, Bjørn Lyngdal, to news. He says they will apply for a dispensation for all the teachers at the relevant schools. The teachers’ strike has lasted since 8 June. In addition to the Education Association, the National Association of Schools has taken 107 members out and the Norwegian Teachers’ Association 89 members on strike. Unsettled by the situation, Molde municipality has reported back to the state administrator that they are unsettled for the pupils and what consequences the prolonged strike may have. The health consequences are about far more than life and health, says assistant municipal director Hege-Beate Skjølberg in Molde municipality to news. – There has never been a strike in the school for so long, as far as we know. And that means that we do not know what the consequences will be for the groups that are most affected, neither when it comes to social and health matters, nor what goes into professional loss.
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The parties in the teachers’ strike in a meeting with the Ombudsman – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
