Efling invites all workers in municipalities outside of Reykjavík to a meeting at the beginning of their strike in Safnaðarheimili Digraneskirkju at Digranesvegur 82 at 12:30 on Monday, March 9. An indefinite strike of those members begins at noon that day.Just over 270 Efling members work in Kópavogur, Seltjarnarnes, Mosfellsbær, Hveragerði, and in the municipality of Ölfus under the SÍS collective agreement. Most of them work in care and maintenance at Kópavogur and Seltjarnarnesbær.The agreement is independent of the agreement with Reykjavíkurborg and is negotiated separately. The negotiations were declared fruitless at a meeting on February 21. Agreements had then been open for nearly a year, as of March 31, 2019.After that declaration, a proposal for a strike was presented to a membership vote. A meeting of the workers in question at Efling had already declared its support for the call to strike.The vote took place on February 24-29. Participation was 48%, i.e. 131 out of 274 members voted. 114 votes were cast for the strike, or 87%. Fourteen votes were against, or 11%, and 3 didn’t choose either – 2%.Of those who voted for or against, 89% agreed to the strike in municipalities outside of Reykjavík. The results therefore indicate decisive support of members for the planned strike.“These results show the willingness of people to put their weight behind the struggle for improved wages and conditions. This is a group in a similar situation as our members in Reykjavík city. The same badly paid jobs, with the same unacceptable conditions,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, head of Efling. “The municipalities and the institutions where our children and elderly parents stay are the biggest low-wage workplaces in Iceland. The time for change has come, no honest person can deny that.”
