Arendal, Bergen, Bodø, Gjøvik, Harstad, Haugesund, Indre Østfold, Lillestrøm, Modum, Molde, Porsgrunn, Steinkjer, Stjørdal and Tromsø – the same municipalities where the strike was intensified last Monday, and further in the following ten county municipalities : Agder, Innlandet, Møre and Romsdal, Nordland, Rogaland, Troms and Finnmark, Trøndelag, Vestfold Telemark, Vestland and Viken, the same municipalities in the county where the strike was intensified last Monday.
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The national school association can also come forward
In an email to VG Tuesday evening, the head of the Schools National Association, Mette Johnsen Walker, writes the following about the association’s strategy:
– The upgrade will take place in September, so it is entirely possible to eliminate members in other counties. We hit anywhere, anytime and on any scale. We wanted to protect the youngest, but it is therefore the council of our confederation that defines a further strategy.
The fact that the escalation does not happen until September is because the unions have four working days to notify the Ombudsman and the KS of the elimination of new strikers.
Potentially, the National Association of Schools can bring 3,807 members on strike, spread across over 800 workplaces. The size of the various withdrawals will vary, he says.
The escalation strategy will be decided at a federation board meeting on Thursday and Friday.
When VG talks to Walker on the phone Wednesday morning, he expresses support for the Education Association, which has eliminated several strikers.
– That’s fine. We have our strategy and they have theirs. The educational association is bigger, so it’s natural, he thinks.
Information
This is why the teachers are on strike
The background of the strike is that the Association for Education, the Association of Norwegian Teachers and the National Association of Schools are in conflict with the KS municipal sector organization for wage conditions. KS is the organization of interests and employers of the municipal sector. Organizations believe that wage growth has not been sufficient and that this makes it difficult to recruit new and qualified staff for the teaching profession. Teachers’ salaries are determined through negotiations between KS and the unions, and KS believes they have gone as long as municipal finances allow for a salary increase to teachers. The teachers’ strike began this spring when negotiations with KS failed. The central board of the Education Association, by far the largest teacher organization with 185,000 members, said no to recommend the solution of the Ombudsman and employer KS. The offer was a salary increase 3.84 percent off. The municipality of Oslo is a separate tariff area, here an agreement has been reached with KS.
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The strike started before the summer, when no agreement was reached in the salary negotiations, but was only fully implemented at the beginning of the school.
Keep up to date: Fast five on strike
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WILL TO FIGHT: – We follow the rules of the game and first warn the Riksmekleren, the KS and the workplaces. The will to fight is great and we are prepared for a long-term strike, warns Mette Johnsen Walker, head of the National Association of Schools. Photo: National Association of Schools – Must take full responsibility for the students
The director of working life at KS, Tor Arne Gangsø, believes that a strike is a legitimate tool for a wage settlement. VG spoke to him on Tuesday evening, before the new strike.
– But when the Education Association chooses to use it, it must take full responsibility for the consequences it has for students after two difficult years of the pandemic.
He says that KS can speak to the Education Association at any time, but that it is up to the Education Association to take the initiative to get out of the strike.
– Then the national mediator has to see if there is a basis for a solution. Our starting point is that all unions other than the three teachers’ organizations, and all municipalities, support the outcome agreed in June. So the room for maneuver is very small.
On Wednesday morning, VG will contact Gangsø again for comment on the development. Then he refers to the communications department.
– Many bad settlements
Steffen Handal of the Education Association said Tuesday night that it was difficult to strike, especially after two years with the pandemic.
– How were your assessments on the strike, considering the young people who return to school after these two years?
– Teachers’ hearts bleed. We would prefer to be in class with the students. We have two thoughts in mind. Teachers got a bad pay this spring, for the sixth consecutive year. It will affect students in the long run and result in poorer teaching if the wage trend continues so negatively and you are unable to address the teacher shortage. Today, over 16,000 teachers with teacher training are missing – one in five.
– What do you think of children who have a constitutional right to education?
– Not an ideal situation for students. We would never go on strike if we received a salary offer equivalent to the other employees in the municipal sector.
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–WILL TO STRIKE: Watch the photo carousel from the Education Association’s strike sign on Lillestrøm torv on Monday this week. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB –
Children’s Ombudsman: serious
Children’s Ombudsman Inga Bejer Engh stresses that the right to strike is central to Norwegian working life and that they have no say in the conflict.
– At the same time, children have a constitutional right to education. Many children and young people went through difficult times during the pandemic, missing classes and spending time with other students and teachers. This has had important consequences, he writes to VG.
– The fact that students are now missing out on even more lessons is serious, especially after two years of the pandemic. It is particularly important that vulnerable children and young people continue to receive the follow-up they need. We hope that municipalities and schools will find solutions that help and support children who have further difficulties during the strike, concludes the Children’s Ombudsman.
– Endanger health and safety
The head of the Education Association, Steffen Handal, agrees with the Children’s Ombudsman that the situation is serious.
Handal goes on to say:
– What we need are employers and a population concerned about how many students are regularly taught by unskilled teachers. I am surprised that KS undermines the importance of teacher training. It is neither motivating nor grateful.
To this, the director of working life at KS, Tor Arne Gangsø, replies that good teacher training is very important to them.
– We want more people with teacher training to join the school and we are working with the state and teacher organizations on this. The vast majority of those labeled by the Education Association as “unskilled teachers” are fully qualified to teach under the requirements of the Education Act. They have the professional and pedagogical skills required by legislation, for example teacher training approved from abroad. 96 percent of primary school teachers possess the required skills, according to official data from the Directorate of Education.
– Accept the battle
VG wrote yesterday, by the way, about Jade (18), who thinks it is an incredible pity that what was finally meant to be the beginning in a normal school year it will not be.
– What assessments did you make to strike, considering the young people who now want and need a normal school day?
To this, the leader of the National Association of Schools, Mette Johnsen Walker, replies that a strike is the means of action they have and that it is not light-hearted that they use it.
– Our members are concerned about their students. However, this is such an important match that they will take it. There is a shortage of colleagues and recruiting professional teachers is not easy. Many are offered to return to the industry where their skills are most valued. The trend of the minimum wage must be reversed.
The Norwegian Association of Teachers also struck members, 10 members of the Bergen Cathedral School and 20 members of the Ås upper secondary school.
“A strike escalation is being assessed,” they say on their website.
Information
They investigated the recruitment
Respons analysis conducted a survey of primary and secondary school principals in the KS area on commission from the Swedish Association for Education, inter alia to examine how easy or difficult it is to recruit qualified teachers into the school . 620 schools responded.
36 percent said it was very or rather difficult to get qualified teachers for the next school year. 42 percent said it was pretty or very easy. When asked whether employment wages in excess of the guaranteed minimum wage / wage are used in your school as a tool to ensure teachers with approved teacher training, 12% answered yes, 83% no. There is a clear difference between primary and secondary schools on this issue. 33% of senior secondary school managers respond to using the salary as an incentive, while 9% of primary school managers respond in the same way.
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Check if your school is interested
In the following tables you can see a complete overview of the teachers who went on strike in the previous strike (strike number two) and in the third strike announced on Wednesday 24 August.
You can also search for your school’s name to see if it’s interested.
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