The northern border now has the most striking teachers per citizen, according to figures from the Education Association.
VG gave an overview of the Education Association of members on strike across the country.
Statistics show that Troms and Finnmark now have more striking teachers for hundreds of thousands of people.
Erna-Elise Paulsen is the head of the FAU at Qualosleta Secondary School in Tromsø. He also has two children affected by the strike.
“There’s a lot of frustration among us parents right now, both professionally and socially,” says Paulson.
Some children at school have not met their teachers or studied a single lesson for almost four weeks.
– Some children do not have many friends and networks and are now completely excluded from school as a social arena. This is very worrying, he says.
Paulson says many understood the demands of the striking teachers.
– We want talented teachers who can defend their jobs, but this strike is not the right way to do it, he says.
Parents in Kvaløysletta are in contact with KS, teacher organizations, the principal and the municipality.
– Emails have been sent to the children’s ombudsman and central politicians to explain that children cannot be harmed in this way, says Paulson.
43 out of 46 teachers are on strike
The teachers’ strike began with 45 members of the education union in Bergen.
When the strike escalated for the first time at the start of school, 41 of the 46 teachers at Qualisleta School were on strike. Now 43 teachers in the school are on strike.
Six escalations of the strike have taken place so far, with a total of 6,368 teachers on strike.
On Monday, the seventh step will take effect, with 1,800 more members.
In addition to the members of the Education Union, about a hundred members of the National Association of Schools and the Lecturers’ Union are also on strike.
– Enjoys strong support
– Like all other parts of the country we should stay away from this strike.
So says Thomas Nordgaard, president of the Education Association in Droms and Finnmark.
– But when we have such a completely dishonest employer, we are in the unfortunate situation where many students are affected by strikes. It’s not luck for the students, but we have to strike, says Nordgaard.
Nordgård says that most people understand why they are on strike.
– We enjoy strong support. At the same time, he says, no one wants a lesson to last longer than it needs to.
Nordgård believes that KS has not met them. He states KS rules against Compulsory Wage Board.
The director of working life at KS, Tor Arne Gangsø, responds to Nordgård’s criticism as follows:
– KS has submitted a concrete proposal for a settlement of the strike. We went as far as possible to meet teacher organizations. The Education Union’s counter demand is inconsistent with the agreement we have with all other municipal sector employee unions and with the Municipal Finance. More than 100,000 children and young people are now affected as the education union escalates the strike. It is a baseless claim that KS is speculating on the wage board.
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