Negotiations CAO-VO are 'very difficult'
Salary, permanent contracts and task policy. These are the points that the unions and the VO council have been arguing about for some time now in the negotiations for a new collective labor agreement in secondary education.
Picture: Type tank
The last collective labor agreement concluded for secondary education ran until 1 October 2019, but has been extended with the consent of the unions and employers' organization VO Council. A new collective labor agreement must now be concluded by 1 October 2020, about which the unions have been bickering with the VO Council for a while. “It is very difficult,” sighs AObdirector Henrik de Moel. “That is also understandable: so far there is no extra structural money available with which we can, for example, tackle the workload. That is why we strike on January 30 and 31. We are asking for 1 billion in additional investments for secondary education. "
In this time of increasing teacher shortages, people need to get a permanent job as soon as possible
But within the space that is available, the parties do not easily come closer to each other. “In addition to wages, we differ in opinion about what makes education an attractive sector. We believe that in this time of increasing teacher shortages, people should get a permanent job as soon as possible, but no later than two years later," says De Moel. "The VO council wants to extend this period.”
Job Policy
There are also problems with the agreements on task policy. Task policy must be embedded in the school plan, personnel policy and formation plan. “The employers want to record as little as possible about this, while our members want clear agreements to be made about this.”
We are afraid that the money from the covenant will end up in the big pot
De Moel continues: “What also complicates the process is that 150 million secondary education has received through the covenant. The distribution of that money must take place in schools. We are afraid that it will disappear into the big pot. ” Hence, the AOb calls up: “Check at your school what you, as teaching staff, want to spend the money on. With that 150 million, you could, for example, give all colleagues - teaching and support staff - 25 hours extra personal budget for a school year." For example, they teach one hour less per week or save those hours. "The personal budget is very popular and it would be nice to expand it," says De Moel.
Boards cannot afford to be a bad employer at the moment
The new collective labor agreement must come into effect by October 2020 at the latest. De Moel: “Colleagues are entitled to a decent pay rise. At the moment, boards cannot afford to be a bad employer and must come up with good working conditions. ”
Sector council
De AObsector council - in which members have their say about the collective labor agreement and educational content - regular consultations are held about the collective labor agreement negotiations, as are sounding board groups within the AOb. As soon as a negotiator agreement has been reached, it will be presented to the Dutch via regional meetings and a digital poll AObmembers. This poll is an advice to the sector council. The council then takes a final decision on the negotiation agreement.
