After disappointing debate will AObchairman open strike fund
"Disappointing." So also sums up AObchairperson Liesbeth Verheggen discussed the course of the parliamentary debate on work pressure and salary in primary education together. "Of course you know in advance that negotiations are ongoing, but you still hope that MPs have enough feeling with the educational field to show that they have understood the message of those thousands of teachers and supporters."
Of the negotiating factions – VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks – only the last two gave the signal 'we heard you', without making any promises. "I didn't expect that," says Verheggen. "But if you've been following the discussions a bit lately, you should know that there is industry-wide consensus that wages should go up and workloads should go down."
Five to twelve
Verheggen sums up: "PO in Actie has a Facebook group with almost 40 members, all unions indicate that you cannot delay with measures. The employers' organization PO council agrees that it is five to twelve. There were so many teaching staff on the leg that, in addition to the public gallery, three rooms had to be opened so that everyone could follow the discussion.''
And what does VVD spokesperson Bente Becker say? That recruiting teachers is not about a higher salary but about status. Then you don't know what's going on.
Add to that the fact that outgoing State Secretary for Education Sander Dekker let slip that he considers the salary differences between primary and secondary education (VO) justifiable, because secondary education works with difficult adolescents, and the purport is clear: it is almost inconceivable that there without pressure, a coalition agreement will be reached in which salaries and work pressure in education will be tackled. Verheggen: "Apparently the independent analyses from CenterData no impression and the VVD thinks that you can fill the teacher training courses again if you give the people in front of the class a pat on the back more often.''
With such an attitude, we will have a teacher shortage of four thousand FTEs at the end of the government's term of office. And then it gets even worse.
Strike coffers open
The president of de Algemene Onderwijsbond advises the central board - say the senate of the AOb – late next week to formally open the strike fund. “We will continue with our actions via #I earn more and we keep hammering on ourselves Salary step-by-step plan and us manifesto about workload. But we come to the conclusion with well-substantiated figures that a delta plan is needed to get the labor market in this sector on top. In any case, during this debate it became clear that we do not have to count on major investments for our collective agreements, so then we should prepare ourselves for a longer battle."
