'Extra' or 'extra extra'? What about the money for primary education
Extra money. For primary education. A surprise for Minister Slob. Incorrect, according to the AOb. That was already known. How about all that?
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Was this pay rise already known or not?
Yes, in the spring government employers will be notified in the form of a letter, officially: the space letter, stating how much money is available for improving employment conditions. This adjustment is derived from the development of wages in the private sector. This year, the wage gap is slightly above 3 percent. This allows trade unions and employers to start making collective agreements. The education employers, PO Council, VO Council, MBO Council, Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and VSNU have all received such a letter in their mailbox.
To whom does this wage margin apply?
For all government sectors and healthcare. So for civil servants, police, soldiers, water boards, ambulance personnel, nurses, etc. And of course for everyone who works in education. Even the salary of Minister Slob goes according to the law automatically upwards.
But suddenly only primary education will receive money?
No absolutely not. The scope for employment conditions applies to all educational sectors. It is a system that has been in place since 1997. That space letter comes every year. And is sent to the education employers by the Ministers of Education themselves in the spring. Nothing new or surprising. It is strange that yesterday the minister only mentions the amounts for the wage margin for primary education and does not list the amounts for the other sectors.
It is strange that yesterday the minister only mentions the amounts for the wage margin for primary education and not the amounts for the other sectors
Just this: the ministry was really surprised at the amount. For primary education, this involves an amount of 285 million euros, which is no small feat.
Many people find percentage sums difficult, we understand that. And it is also about big numbers. Let's do some math. If the ministry sends a letter that the wage margin is about 3 percent and their own budget has roughly 9 billion euros in personnel expenditure for primary education, how much money is it? Roughly 270 million euros. The minister and his spokesperson could therefore already know this in the spring.
The minister is talking about extra money. Is that right?
That is not how the system devised in 1997 is intended. It is money for working conditions to monitor wage developments in other sectors. Otherwise, the salaries of all public sector employees would continue to lag the market. And nobody wants to work for the government anymore. So it is not something extra, but normal wage development, an automatism.
Is that automatic, so that wage adjustment always happens?
I wish it was true. The government almost never keeps to the agreements made in 1997. Very often, the wage gap has been adjusted due to cutbacks, sometimes even completely scrapped 'the zero line', sometimes partially reduced. This year it seems that the amount has been awarded in full. Maybe that's why Slob calls it 'extra'. Because the government finally once again allocates the full wage range in accordance with the agreements.
And what does he mean by 'extra extra', what the unions would like?
'Extra extra' is of course clever. Roughly translated, it means that the unions whine and always want more. Caterpillar never enough, so to speak. And yes, the unions do indeed want extra, simply because wages in education have lagged behind the market since the cutbacks during the crisis. Wages in primary education in full, where the wage arrears are the greatest. We have a major problem with the teacher shortages, and investments must be made to solve that.
We have a major problem with teacher shortages, and we need to invest to solve that
Then it is high time to conclude a collective labor agreement in primary education, why is it not yet in place?
To begin with, the unions do not know the space letter, it is secret. Very weird. A lot of time is therefore lost during the negotiations to find out how much space there is. If the unions get that letter, the negotiators can do business faster. Incidentally, a majority in the House of Representatives agrees, they want that space letter becomes public, but the minister does not feel like it.
Okay, so that solves politics for us. But the negotiations have ended?
Unfortunately yes. There are many bottlenecks in primary education, there is a substantial salary problem in special education and school leaders also want a plus. Add to that a wage increase for everyone to keep up with inflation and wage developments at the companies. Plus, of course, further closing the pay gap. That is not possible with more than 3 percent for 2019. The employers wanted a longer term until 2020, but not really much more. That's why they have the negotiations halted. However, unions and the PO Council agree that more money must come from the State to solve the problems, first of all an emergency kit. Only then can we agree on a good collective labor agreement.
But then we lose the money that is there, right?
Certainly not. The money is transferred to the school boards and as soon as there is a collective labor agreement, the money is always processed retroactively in the wages. The negotiators of the unions want nothing more than to conclude a good collective labor agreement quickly, so that everyone also has it in their bank account quickly. If that does not work, we know for sure that the money is there and that it will come retroactively.
