School assistant layoffs stem from previous city majority, mayor says

Layoffs of school assistants in Reykjavík are not part of the cost-cutting measures approved by the city council on Tuesday, but resulted from decisions made under the previous city majority, Mayor Hildur Björnsdóttir told mbl.is.

Several school assistants were dismissed after Reykjavík decided to outsource cleaning at 19 primary schools. The schools’ principals made the decisions, and the exact number of affected employees is not known.

The city council also approved the dismissal of 86 employees in the city’s school and leisure division. Of those, 32 will be offered new or changed positions, while 54 will not continue working for the city.

“In today’s measures, we focused on reducing the administrative structure and the number of managers. School assistants were certainly not part of these measures,” Hildur said.

The city’s procurement and implementation committee approved bids from two cleaning companies on July 9. The tender process began under the previous five-party city majority during the last term.

Hildur said many school assistants still work for the city. She added that the current measures do not involve dismissing speech therapists, developmental therapists or other employees who provide direct services to children and families. Instead, the city is reducing the number of service centres, which she said would create opportunities to cut administrative overhead.