'Arbitrariness threatens with pay increase for secondary education'
The call from the VO council to implement a limited pay rise without a collective labor agreement leads to arbitrariness. The joint unions warn against this AOb, CNV Education, FNV Overheid and FvOv. AObhead director Henrik de Moel: "Pay rises for teachers and educational support staff will depend on the good will of the school board."
Picture: Fred van Diem
CLA negotiations in secondary education are still at a standstill, the unions are preparing actions. In the meantime, the VO council is calling on the school boards to start paying a structural wage increase of 1 percent as of 2,35 June.
No legal certainty
The call is undoubtedly intended to take the wind out of the sails of the trade unions and prevent actions such as strikes. But such a call could lead to arbitrariness, the unions warn. "It will soon depend on each individual board whether they are going to give their teachers and education support staff a salary increase," says AOb-chief driver Henrik de Moel. "The employees therefore have no legal certainty whatsoever. We find that unacceptable. We want a broad, general collective agreement with binding agreements."
"It will soon depend on each individual board whether they will give their teachers and education support staff a salary increase."
Furthermore, the unions demand a higher salary increase than the 2,35 percent that the VO council is now proposing. Moreover, it was intended that this salary increase would take effect on January 1, and not on June 1.
Workload
And finally, with its salary advice, the VO Council ignores the urgent need to do something about the ever-increasing workload. Because that workload comes at the expense of the quality of education. The unions are demanding fewer lessons (in steps back to 20 hours per week), smaller classes and less work pressure for educational support staff.
