Yesterday, a letter from the team to the municipal councils was published in the media. In the letter, the reason for the ban is said to be the referral of the negotiations with Efling and other SGS unions to the state mediator. The dispute was referred there because it was deadlocked.In the letter from SÍS, the “serious dispute” is said to have put the SÍS negotiatiors “into the firing line of defending the municipalities’ financial interests”.“Well, how about the financial interests of the lowest paid municipal workers?” asks Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, head of Efling. “The people whose jobs are the basis of society, which all of us rely on being done? Yet again they receive this cruel message, they who do the most important work, that they are worth so little to the powerful in the public sector that a 105.000 kr down payment is too much for them.”The reason this down payment was agreed to was simple. The negotiations have dragged on excessively. All agreed that public sector employees should not have to wait for this long for the private sector raises to be applied to them.Despite this, the SÍS negotiators have decided to except the lowest paid municipal workers.“The cruelty and disregard of the negotiators is incomprehensible,” says Sólveig. “Well paid people in high positions have decided to punish low wage workers for the ‘crime’ the unions committed by referring talks to the state mediator.”One municipal council has decided to show courage and fairness, and give the down payment to all workers. Now, it’s the turn of the other councils.“Do elected officials around the country, people on good wages, really want to become known for robbing 105.000 kr off people who really need it?” asks Sólveig.
