Text messages sent between school councilor Inga Marte Thorkildsen (SV) and education director Marte Gerhardsen reveal the drama following Dagbladet’s revelations about the Oslo school.
Just after Dagbladet told about the wage party at the top The Education Agency in Oslo, Thorkildsen contacted Gerhardsen.
The city council feared a large-scale strike among teachers after Dagbladet’s articles:
«I am very concerned that this debate on executive pay will end in a strike among teachers. It will be a disaster. I appreciate help, we need to be clear now», Thorkildsen wrote to Gerhardsen in an SMS on 22 October.
Dagbladet has also documented million spend on consultants, headhunters and American leadership coaching. The opposition in Oslo, as well as several in the Storting, has reacted strongly to the use of money in the Oslo school SV and Thorkildsen governs.
Settlement with the wage party: – Horrible
– Shares the concern
While the teachers in the Oslo school have been asked to show moderation in the crisis year 2020, many of the directors in the Oslo school have received large salary jumps. Teachers have been offered a 1.7 per cent salary increase – some directors received more than 10 per cent, and that outside the ordinary salary settlement.
Director of Education Marte Gerhardsen answered Thorkildsen quickly. And Dagbladet’s insight into the SMS correspondence shows that Gerhardsen was also afraid of a strike.
«Shares the concern. Am incredibly sorry for this. Have talked for a long time with Aina this afternoon about what can be a wise message. I will answer Dagbladet tomorrow», Gerhardsen wrote to school councilor Thorkildsen.
Called in on the carpet: – Enough is enough
– Reprehensible
Aina Skjefstad Andersen heads the Education Association in Oslo, and has been very critical of the wage party. Union leader Anne Finborud from the National Association of Schools has been even sharper:
– It’s reprehensible. I really have to say that I was very disappointed to read about executive salaries. It destroys respect for the schemes we have, increases the differences in society and weakens the basis for the welfare state, she has previously told Dagbladet.
Spends millions on American coaching
The tops put battle plan on SMS
Inga Marte Thorkildsen has categorically denied to Dagbladet that it is relevant for her to intervene and reverse the wage orders the tops in the agency have received. This even though the opposition in Oslo has made it clear that Thorkildsen has it in her political power to reverse the wage party, if she so wishes.
But in another SMS to Marte Gerhardsen on October 22, Thorkildsen airs precisely this idea:
«(…) Maybe even consider reversing something, if possible – since it is so critical with this settlement and the case has become so explosive because of the corona. But you have to consider that», Writes City Councilor Thorkildsen to Marte Gerhardsen.
LO union: – Reprehensible
The text message also shows how Thorkildsen and Gerhardsen planned the handling of Dagbladet’s revelations.
«I need to say something clear, for example that I have asked you to go round with unions and find solutions. And point to concrete changes. This is not something I want, but see that we are under tremendous pressure now», Thorkildsen continues in the SMS from 22 October.
Marte Gerhardsen does not respond to Thorkildsen’s idea of reversing some of the salary increases in the agency.
But two days later, Dagbladet was able to report that The Education Agency and the Education Association had found solutions that would prevent such a wage party from happening again. The solution involved no reversal, but better involvement from the trade union movement in the event of any wage increases in the future.
In a major interview with Dagbladet, Gerhardsen said that she was sorry for the situation that had arisen, but that she was responsible for the salary increases.
After the revelations: – Shocked
– All natural
Inga Marte Thorkildsen has not had time to do an interview with Dagbladet in the last two weeks other than via email.
– It is only natural that I as a school councilor am worried about a strike, especially in the middle of a pandemic, she writes in an email on Saturday afternoon.
– I understand well that many teachers are provoked when directors have received a high salary increase, while other employees are encouraged to moderate. That is why we have now changed the system, with a closer dialogue with the shop stewards about wage developments. More power for the trade union movement is completely in line with SV’s and this city council’s policy. Reversing wage increases for these individuals is not an option as long as an agreement has been entered into between an employee and an employer, Thorkildsen continues in the email.
The use of money in the Oslo school will be the subject of much debate in the next question hour in the city council in Oslo.
–
