School boards support action, but do not always pay wages
Primary schools support the strike on October 5, but do not always reimburse the wages of striking teachers and supporters on that day. “It was a complicated decision, but we decided not to continue paying,” says the board secretary of the Dynamiek school foundation. "The coin fell just the other way."
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The representative of the primary school boards, the PO council, supports the action and works with the AOb, school leaders and other unions together in the PO front. Together the organizations argue for more investment in primary education.
Op the website therefore asks the council to continue to pay the wages that day. “We have no signs that there are many difficulties with that,” says the spokesman for the PO council. "It is therefore to be expected that most school boards will also do this."
Support
Primato Foundation in Hengelo follows the call. An employee of the executive office e-mails: "The board has chosen this because we take the complaints, especially about the workload of our colleagues, seriously and want to fully support them." Education director Pim van Kampen of the Nobego school group also announced that he continues to pay his staff. Just like fellow boards from the region. “That is a one-off to show that we stand behind the staff,” says Van Kampen.
Do not continue to pay
There are also boards that do not continue to pay, but do support the strike. For example in West Brabant, including INOS Catholic Education Foundation in Breda, Oosterhout Delta Education, Etten-Leur Catholic Primary Education Foundation and Lowys Porquin Foundation in Bergen op Zoom. In a joint press release, sent on behalf of twenty school boards, they say: 'All but a few schools in the region are closed. The vast majority of boards do not follow the call to continue paying the salary of their colleagues on strike. '
Press release school boards in West Brabant: 'All but a few schools in the region are closed. The vast majority of boards do not follow the call to continue paying the salary of their colleagues on strike. '
Jac Verschueren, director at the Catholic Primary Education Foundation Etten-Leur, says: “We follow the collective labor agreement which, in short, states: staking does not mean paying.” He also points to the possibility that the Ministry of Education can reclaim money because you pay teaching staff 'improperly' for one day. "That is a risk, we discussed it with accountants and did not receive a clear answer." Peter van Eijk, chairman of the Fortior Executive Board also mentions this point. 'We only pay if Fortior receives the payment for a striking teacher.'
In Limburg, the school foundation Dynamiek en Prisma does not pay. Prisma refers to on the website the strike policy. Dynamiek's board secretary said it was a complicated decision. “We sympathize and support the campaign. During the hour in June we continued to pay. But now it is somewhat according to the rule: those who do not work are not paid. ” The foundation does want to use that money for workload-reducing measures.
Sympathetic
AObdirector Tamar van Gelder says it is a unique situation. “Usually actions are against employers, but now it is a third party and we work together. Paying wages is not something you can force. School boards can decide for themselves, but it is nice if they do it.” There is nothing wrong with education employees who are members of a union. Van Gelder: “They get their travel expenses and their strike day paid out of the strike fund of the unions.”
