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Earlier this fall, the members of the Education Association sent to a referendum the result of the collective agreement negotiations between teachers and the city of Oslo.
The majority of the members who voted, 59.1 percent, said no to the deal. In all other circumstances, it would provoke a strike among the teachers of the Oslo school.
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But the central board of the Education Association overrides its own members and still agrees with the outcome of the negotiations.
Support too low
The main reason is that only 42.5 percent of the 9,000 teachers in Oslo participated in the referendum. When less than half of the members participate in a vote, the union’s bylaws say that the vote is advisory only, not binding.
The Education Association believes that the crown situation makes the economy in the municipality of Oslo and the rest of the country so tight that it was not possible to achieve a result above the 1.7 percent limit.
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Also in the KS area, that is, all of Norway except Oslo (which is a separate tariff area), the referendum ended without a majority and the agreement returned to mediation. There, KS and Utdanningsforbundet agreed on an additional protocol on the development of low teacher salaries since 2004 and the use of unskilled substitutes.
General evaluation
– It has been a very difficult decision for the central table to reconsider a referendum. We are in a very special and extraordinary situation in which the pandemic has hit the economy hard. There has been very little money to fight for in this collective agreement. And the consideration of the educational offer for children and young people is also very demanding due to the contagious situation.
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This is what the leader of the Education Association, Steffen Handal, tells Dagsavisen.
He explains that the central table has chosen to ignore the result in the referendum after a general assessment where it has been related to the result of the mediation that was recommended by the negotiating committee and the contagion situation.
– Do you think so many said that it is not about per thousand in the payment receipt, or is there something else behind it?
– I find it difficult to speculate on what is behind the individual assessment for having voted against. But we know that conditions outside the collective agreement have also affected the mood among Oslo teachers. It is, among other things, the salary party that has been seen among the directors of the Education Agency. This has made him more demanding and probably provoked a lot of teachers, Handal says.
May be on strike in spring
Already in spring a new salary settlement will begin in the municipality. Handal believes that the referendum result is a strong signal to employers that there must be a good result for teachers if a strike by new teachers is to be avoided.
– The salary level of teachers in the municipality of Oslo is too low. The result of the referendum is a strong message for the municipality. It doesn’t take many months before we get back to the negotiating table, and I hope the Oslo municipality employer takes the heavy use of unskilled labor seriously and comes forward to do something with teacher salaries in Oslo. says Handal.
The Oslo School Board, Inga Marte Thorkildsen (SV), did not have a chance to be interviewed about this on Thursday. Please write the following in an email to Dagsavisen.
– This has been a demanding and exciting fall in which the teachers have clearly pointed out where they are. Many have been stretched a lot. I record that the Central Board of the Education Association has accepted the new collective agreement in the municipality of Oslo, while emphasizing that this has not been an easy decision. By the way, I take the result as information.
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