After four months of teacher strike, Labor and Inclusion Minister Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) took the unusual step of forcing the teachers back into the classroom. Cause? Pupils’ mental health. The Institute of Public Health (FHI) believed that 14,000 students risked worsening of psychological challenges if the strike continued. Anxiety about weight loss, self-harm, loneliness and suicide thus contributed to stopping the teachers’ strike. – The strike had social consequences of such a serious nature that it would be irresponsible not to intervene in the conflict, says Persen. She believes the strike had negative consequences for children and young people’s mental health and serious consequences for children and young people’s educational provision. – The consequences hit vulnerable children and young people particularly hard, and were reinforced by the fact that the strike came in the wake of a pandemic which largely affected many of the same pupils, says Persen. 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) But are the teachers responsible for the pupils’ mental health? Thomas Benson, university lecturer in social sciences at Nord University and lawyer in employment law. – A teacher is not a health worker. They neither have an education nor have the competence to be a health worker. We have a child protection and psychiatric service that takes care of such matters, says employment law expert and lawyer Thomas Benson. Photo: Petter Strøm / news He believes that the government, with its decision on the compulsory salary board, placed the responsibility for pupils’ mental health on the teachers’ shoulders alone. – It is taking the teaching job far too far. Teachers do not have the right education to look after students with serious mental health challenges. To be considered in the Storting On 29 November, the Storting will consider the government’s intervention to stop the teachers’ strike this autumn. On Tuesday, the recommendation came to the Storting from the labor and social affairs committee. The majority is in favor of supporting the government’s intervention, with two exceptions – SV and Rødt. The fact that the committee is not standing together is very surprising, according to Benson. – When you stop, usually all parties agree. In order for the state to stop a strike, the following reasons must be met. Consideration for society at large (for example, that airports are closed or payment chaos). Danger to life and health (for example, that ambulance planes will not be operational). Denies that life and health were threatened Among those who will vote against on Tuesday is the committee’s leader, Kirsti Bergstø (SV). She denies that life and health were threatened, and that there was thus no basis for a forced wage board. WAGE COMMITTEE: After a meeting with the parties, Labor Minister Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) announced that the teachers’ strike was called off on 27 September. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news – Many of the reports that came from the healthcare system, schools, teachers and parents were serious. But life and health were not threatened. Calling off the teachers’ strike on such grounds is a serious act. She believes the government must clarify how life and health were at stake. And what serious social conditions made it necessary to call off the strike. – We cannot see that has been made clear, says Bergstø. Concerned about the right to strike Strikes are the employees’ most important means of action. But this year, three out of four strikes have ended with a forced wage board. – It is precisely because of strikes and struggles by working people that we have had better working conditions and a fairer distribution in Norway, says Kirsti Bergstø (SV). Photo: Nils Henrik Måsø / news The government’s intervention in the teachers’ strike worries both trade unions and politicians. Possible new teachers’ strike in the spring: – Dangerous for democracy if the strike loses its force – It is serious. Strikes are the most effective and powerful tool that the trade union movement and organized workers have, says Bergstø. It is a way of thinking that the employment law expert at Nord University follows. Benson also thinks it is a cross of thought that it is a minister from Ap, with his feet placed in the trade union movement, who has restricted the right to strike. About 70,000 children and young people were affected by the strike when the government intervened, estimates the Norwegian Directorate of Education. This includes 50,000 pupils in primary school and 20,000 pupils in upper secondary school. Photo: news – If this continues, you will no longer have the right to strike in Norway. Then you have to find a completely different system, says Benson. Rødt has also declared that the party will vote against the compulsory wage board. – This is a very weak basis. It is not properly documented that the school strike contributed to mental illness as the government assumed, Mímir Kristjánsson has previously told news. – Will create wounds Red and SV will not get a majority in the Storting. But the labor law expert still believes the case will have consequences. He believes the disagreement will create wounds in the cooperation between the government and SV. – Now they will try to reach a budget settlement. This will help make it worse. The government: – Negative consequences Labor and inclusion minister Marte Mjøs Persen (Ap) would have liked to see that the recommendation from the committee Bergstø leader had been unanimous. At the same time, she rejects that the right to strike in Norway is restricted. – We have to tolerate that a strike causes inconvenience to a third party, and a strike among teachers will always affect the students, says Minister Marte Mjøs Persen. Photo: Mathias Moene Rød / Mathias Moene Rød – But when we reach a point where the consequences for society and for individual students become so serious that it is no longer justifiable to let the strike continue, the government must intervene. Persen also denies that it has not been properly documented that the teachers’ strike contributed to mental illness. – This has been explained in a thorough manner. State administrators reported concerns regarding long-term consequences for pupils’ mental health and increased access to various health services for children and young people. We also received a number of specific messages of concern about serious negative consequences for individual pupils. – Do you still think that life and health were threatened? – It was an overall assessment of several elements which resulted in serious social consequences. This was the basis for the intervention, and of course I still stand by it.
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The teachers’ strike – Red and SV vote against the compulsory wage board – news Nordland
