Reykjavík workers reportedly offered jobs on worse terms

More than half of the employees dismissed in Reykjavík City’s mass layoffs are members of Sameyki, the union said, according to mbl.is. Fifteen union members were offered new or different jobs, but were reportedly offered worse pay and given only a short time to decide whether to accept.

Some employees were given until noon on Thursday to respond, while others had until Thursday afternoon.

Reykjavík City Council approved the mayor’s proposal on Tuesday for extensive changes to the organisational structure of the city’s welfare department and its education and leisure department. The changes resulted in 86 employees being dismissed, including 47 Sameyki members. In total, 32 employees were offered new or modified positions, 15 of them members of Sameyki.

“Our feeling at Sameyki is that many people are extremely insecure in their jobs. They are unhappy at work. There are highly capable people working for Reykjavík City who have started considering moving on,” Kári Sigurðsson, the union’s chairman, told mbl.is.

According to Sigurðsson, employees were given verbal promises about their pay at meetings where they were informed of their dismissals and offered new or modified positions. They received draft job descriptions in writing.

About 11,000 people work for Reykjavík City, including around 6,000 Sameyki members. Leaders of the governing parties have not ruled out similar measures in other parts of the city administration.

The approved changes include moving the work of service and leisure centres into a new structure based on professional specialisation and coordinated services across the city, rather than geographical neighbourhood divisions. Reykjavík’s four service centres will be closed under the changes, with their work transferred to the new structure within the education and leisure department.

Sigurðsson attended an information meeting for employees at the Suðurmiðstöð service centre on Wednesday morning. Staff were able to question the leaders of the governing parties about the changes.

He said the leaders had provided inadequate answers to some questions and that employees remained highly uncertain about the future and how the operations would be organised. The mood at the meeting was sombre, he said.