Striking teachers in Amsterdam receive a salary, but not in Utrecht
Almost all primary school teachers in Amsterdam will continue to receive their salary next Wednesday if they leave work for a day. Their colleagues in Utrecht are less fortunate, as the three major school boards will not continue to pay on 14 March.
Picture: Fred van Diem
On March 14, teachers in North Holland, Flevoland and Utrecht went on strike. They take over the 'baton' from their colleagues the northern provinces. The unions have again asked to stop working because the quality of education is under pressure and teachers' salaries have to be raised.
Solidarity
In Amsterdam, school boards continue to pay their teachers that day, says Diane Middelkoop, chairman of the Amsterdam Broad Administrative Consultation (BBO). This consultation includes 33 Amsterdam school boards for primary education. “We have coordinated this and discussed it. With each strike, we review what is reasonable and weigh up whether we continue to pay. There was also a majority before that, ”says Middelkoop. "We support the action and show solidarity with the teachers."
Diane Middelkoop, chairman of the Amsterdam Breeding Board: "With every strike we look again at what is reasonable and we consider whether we continue to pay. This time there was also a majority for this."
Middelkoop explains that they already notice a lot of the teacher shortage in Amsterdam. The school boards are therefore conducting another one, also in the run-up to the municipal elections own action to emphasize the teacher shortage in Amsterdam. "In 2023 we expect a shortage of 500 full-time jobs," says Middelkoop. "We hope that the policy of this current college will be continued, but after the elections you will never know."
In Utrecht, the three major school boards, PCOU Willibrord, Katholieke Scholenstichting Utrecht (KSU) and the public primary schools, have decided not to pay their teachers wages on March 14, it reported. Algemeen Dagblad yesterday.
Board secretary Arie Olthof of PCOU Willibrord: "We have the principle: no work, no money. We only deviated from this during the first strike, because the PO council then emphasized that we should continue to pay."
The KSU continued to pay during the previous strikes. The foundation believes that this time the striking teachers can go to the unions for a strike benefit, says KSU spokesman Judith Ceton. “We support the campaign and the demands to align the salary with secondary education, but we also look at the parents and the children. Moreover, there is now a workload agreement. ”
Working pressure relief
The money from the teachers' salaries from the strike day is adding the Catholic School Foundation to the means to ease the workload. “That was decided by the board yesterday,” says Ceton. It has no effect within the foundation on the willingness to strike: of the 25 schools, 22 will be closed, as is now known, says Ceton.
They also expect a great willingness to strike in Amsterdam. Middelkoop from BBO: "I now have the impression that most of the schools will be closed next Wednesday."
Next Wednesday, the PO front, wherever the AOb in it, a great demonstration through Amsterdam. The procession departs from the Stopera at 12.00 noon and heads towards the Museumplein to campaign for a better salary.
