Teachers Vote On Strike Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Iceland’s secondary school teachers will vote on whether or not they will go on strike.

Vísir reports that The Icelandic Teachers’ Unions and The Association of Deputy Headteachers in Upper Secondary Schools will both vote on the matter. Voting will open in the morning, and ballot submissions will remain open until Friday.

Once completed, counting will have to be finalised and the results submitted to the Ministry of Finance and government collective bargaining officials. If the voting results are a strike, this needs to be announced by 1 March.

If a strike is called, it could begin as early as 15 March, a Saturday, with the first day of secondary schools closed as a result on 17 March.

As reported, secondary school teachers have been deeply unsatisfied with the terms being offered by the state, especially with regards to wage increases. In a recent statement to the press, they demanded that “the government revoke its [collective bargaining] representative at once, to present a realistic offer at the negotiations table to correct our salaries, and insure a natural salary development in the future. This, and only this, can create the foundation discussions about the future of secondary schools for the teaching class.”