Collective Bargaining Reached With Efling Reykjavik City Workers

The strike of Reykjavík City workers within the labour union Efling, which formally began on January 21st, has now come to a close. After a series of work stoppages and then a strike, a collective bargaining agreement has at last been reached between Reykjavík City and these workers.

“The agreement raises the lowest wages of Efling members by up to 112,000kr during the contract’s term for full-time workers,” an announcement on the official site of Efling details. For the record, the contract’s term goes until March 31, 2023, meaning this pay rise will not come all at once but in increments over this period of time.

Other changes made to the newly-signed agreement include the following:

“Raises over and above the 90,000kr, prefigured in last year’s collective agreements, are achieved by a change to the wage table that raises salaries on average by 7,800kr for all Efling members in the city. In addition, a special payment to the lowest paid workers is added.

“This payment is 15,000kr at the bottom of the table and peters out at higher salaries. It applies to 26 job titles of Efling which don’t have a special payment already. It will be seen in reverse proportion to the basic salary by nearly three quarters of Efling workers in the city.”

This new contract also includes a ” shorter working week, both for daytime and shift workers. The right to 10 hours of overtime pay for kindergarten workers is now incorporated into the agreement in the form of a lump sum. Course attendance and education are given greater weight in determining workers’ salaries.”

There are approximately 1,800 people who work for the City of Reykjavík who are in Efling, including some 1,000 playschool workers and 710 caregivers. They have not had an active contract since March 31st of last year, and so this new agreement is most welcome.