Municipal employers say statutory eldercare emergency plan is unnecessary

The chairman of the Faroese Municipal Employers’ Association says he knows nothing about plans for a legally mandated emergency preparedness arrangement for eldercare staff, Kringvarp Føroya reports.

Per Martin Gregersen said such legislation should not be necessary and that the parties should resolve the issue themselves.

In a public statement on Tuesday, the chairwomen of the Health Assistants’ Association and the Faroese Nurses’ Association, Mary Antonsdóttir and Óluva í Gong, said they had been told by the Ministry of Finance that it was preparing general wording on emergency preparedness in connection with a possible strike.

The two chairwomen said they would never accept a legally mandated emergency preparedness arrangement.

Negotiations between the Health Assistants’ Association and the Municipal Employers’ Association broke down before the summer holidays. The collective agreement expired 11 months ago, and Gregersen said the parties were once again divided over pay.

No date has been set for the negotiations to resume.