Taking more teachers on strike

Strikes: Guards on strike at Østersund Junior School in Lilleström earlier this week. Photo: Aurora Yadreberg Melo / V.G

The 1,423 teachers who said two days ago that they would go on strike from Monday have already started the strike, while another 431 teachers have been warned that they will be evicted.

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The fourth strike will begin from Wednesday next week.

– We love speed. Pressure must be increased on employers to come back to the negotiating table. Our aim is to end the strike as soon as possible. Primarily for students. That’s why we’ve chosen this strategy, Steffen Handel, president of the Swedish Education Association, tells VG, why they’re escalating the strike earlier. Previous notification It has become a reality.

Whether this strategy will bring KS, the employer side, back to the negotiating table is difficult for Handel to answer.

– So far, KS has shown little interest in returning.

If nothing happens before Wednesday, August 31, the 3,155 teachers in the education union will go on strike from that day.

Additionally, 31 members of the National Schools Association are already on strike, and 13 have already announced they will withdraw from Monday. The Norwegian Lecturers’ Association announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of 13 members. Earlier 30 members were on strike.

In the new selection for the education association, teachers were selected in schools in Bergen, Indre Østfold and Lillestrøm municipality and the district municipalities of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, Trøndelag and Vestland. There are a total of 431 teachers in 22 higher secondary and higher secondary schools.

See the full Academic Society extract below the article.

CHAIRPERSON: Steffen Handel at the Education Association during his appeal on the strike in Lillestrom this week. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB

Primary schools and nurseries are not excluded

Even now, teachers in primary schools and kindergartens are not on strike. Handal explains that this is based on an overall assessment and, among other things, about the fact that they want to protect younger students. However, the union leader can’t promise that it won’t happen later.

– I don’t want to rule anything out, he says.

I don’t want to answer if that is what it takes to field KS.

– I don’t want to assume what the other party thinks. I gave it up a long time ago. We are doing our best to get back to the negotiation stage. Handal says that our members’ desire is primarily to turn back to the students in the classroom, and continues:

– But we must have two thoughts in our heads at the same time: to ensure that salaries are commensurate with everyone, and at the same time to ensure that we can recruit and retain teachers for the future.

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Due to this the teachers are on strike

The reason for the strike is that the education union, the Norwegian Teachers’ Union and the National Schools Association are in conflict with KS, an organization of the municipal department, over salary conditions.
KS is the welfare and employers’ organization of the municipal sector.
Those institutions feel that wage growth is not sufficient and thus it is difficult to attract new and qualified staff to the teaching profession. The education association also pointed out that the salary It is important to keep Teachers of today.
Teachers’ salaries are determined through negotiations between KS and the unions, and KS believes that the municipalities’ funds have gone as far as allowing them to pay teachers a raise.
A teachers’ strike began this spring, and negotiations with KS broke down.
It is the largest teachers’ organization with 185,000 members, according to the Central Committee of the Education Union Not recommended Ombudsman and employer K.S.
There was a framework for concessions A pay rise 3.84 per cent, but a real increase varies In terms of seniority and education, fresh graduates earn more and teachers with longer seniority and education earn less.
The municipality of Oslo is a separate payment area, where an agreement was reached between the parties.

KS: Up to the Education Society

In an email to VG, KS’ labor director Tor Arne Gangsø writes that the education union’s escalation of the strike will make it harder for even more students to start school.

– It’s a big responsibility for children and young people to take on after two years of hard everyday school life during the pandemic.

When asked if KS would now consider resuming negotiations, Kangso replied:

– In the municipal sector, everyone has a collective agreement. KS negotiates simultaneously with LO, Unio, YS and Akademikerne. They represent 40 unions in 366 municipalities and districts. Together, we piece together a puzzle to solve the cross-cutting demands of employees and the wants and needs of municipalities. It became a comprehensive picture that everyone could eventually support, except for teacher organizations. They don’t agree with KS, they don’t agree with all other unions.

At the same time, they say that they can talk to the education union anytime, but it is the teachers’ organizations that should take the initiative to withdraw from the strike they have started.

– Then the national mediator should see if there is a basis for a dialogue. Our starting point is an agreement supported by all other unions and all municipalities and counties. So the room for maneuver is very small. “There has been good and constructive communication between the parties regarding the handling of the strike,” Kangso concludes.

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Researched recruitment

Analysis of responses A survey of school principals in primary and secondary schools in the KS region by a commission from the Swedish Education Association, among other things, examined how easy or difficult it is to recruit qualified teachers to the school. 620 schools have responded.

36 percent responded that it would be very difficult to get qualified teachers for the coming academic year.
42 percent answered that it was very or very easy.
When asked whether employment pay above the guaranteed wage/minimum wage is used as a tool to protect certified teacher trainee teachers in your school, 12 percent said yes and 83 percent said no.
There is a clear distinction between primary and secondary schools on this question. Thirty-three percent of high school principals use salary as an incentive, while nine percent of elementary school principals respond.

Teacher crisis

In a press release Friday, the president of the Education Association is asking local and national politicians to come forward.

– Of course, they should not interfere in the salary solution, but they should go out on the pitch and say what kind of ambitions they have for the school – and who they think should be in the country’s classrooms and what kind of education they want. However, Handal says that every fifth teacher who teaches in schools does not have teacher training.

Politicians talk big in election campaigns, but when it comes down to it, the association believes schools are given low priority. Handal reports that this has led to a teacher crisis with a shortage of 16,400 teachers in Norwegian schools.

– Many schools are in need of highly qualified teachers. Handal says it’s time for politicians to step in and say how they will invest firmly in schools and students.