The Icelandic Association of Local Authorities still refuses to negotiate a collective agreement with Efling comparable to that which the state, the City of Reykjavík and Faxaflóaahafnir have negotiated with the union. The association is the only public contracting party to take this stance in the area of coverage of Efling. This came up during a negotiation today.The association thus expects employees for Kópavogur and Seltjarnarnes, who do the same work as their counterparts in the city to be paid less than them, although the job titles are precisely the same, the employment area the same and the work is evaluated by precisely the same number of points within the work evaluation system as in the case of employees within the same union.The chairman of The Icelandic Association of Local Authorities (SÍS) has called for the strike actions of Efling members, which are expected to begin at 12 o’clock noon tomorrow (Tuesday, May 5th), to be declared illegal, rather than begin negotiating with Efling members on the same terms as other public institutions.Efling signed a collective agreement with the state on March 7th and with the City of Reykjavík on March 10th after the disease prevention authorities issued a statement calling on contracting parties to finalize negotiations. These institutions agreed to offer a special correction of the wages of the lowest paid groups and of the historically undervalued female professions.The strike call for tomorrow was approved by over 90% of the votes of those who participated in the vote, with a record-breaking turnout. The vote was repeated after strike actions were postponed at the end of March because of the Corona-virus pandemic. The employees in question work on the front-lines of the war against the pandemic, for instance by cleaning primary schools and providing social assistance.“Efling will not abandon its members employed by Kópavogur and Seltjarnarnes to an inferior collective agreement simply because the association managed to protract this wage dispute into the Corona-virus pandemic. Each member of Efling working in the public sector will receive their wage correction; Corona-virus or no,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling.
