Municipalities’ negotiator calls teachers’ union statements unbelievable

The head of the municipalities’ negotiating committee said claims by the teachers’ union that its pay agreement was at risk had taken her completely by surprise, mbl.is reported. The Icelandic Teachers’ Union did not agree to a meeting requested by the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities on Thursday.

Inga Run Olafsdottir said responsibility for the situation lay with the union’s leadership. “This outburst from them now is simply surprising,” she told mbl.is.

Earlier on Thursday, union chairman Magnus Thor Jonsson told RUV that the existing agreement was heading for a breakdown in its conditions. He said teachers had been told the parties would not honour the deal made last year, and that proposed changes sent by the municipalities amounted to a new, less favourable agreement.

The assessment of teachers’ jobs is the largest part of the agreement, signed in February 2025 and running until the end of May 2028, Olafsdottir said. Initial findings were due on October 1. If the parties disagreed, either could refer the matter to a conditions committee before November 1. If the dispute remained unresolved, either side could terminate the agreement from the start of the new year.

Olafsdottir said the project had proved much larger and more time-consuming than expected, and no results were ready to assess by October 1. She said both sides shared responsibility for the delay and that it was reasonable for the work to take longer.

She said the municipalities had urged the union to continue the project in good faith, describing it as important for assessing teachers’ work and setting their pay on a comparable basis to other specialists. The municipalities would not withdraw from the project, she said, adding that responsibility for the current statements lay with the union’s leadership.

Contractual wage increases for teachers employed by municipalities totalled 24.5% under last year’s agreement, Olafsdottir said, considerably more than the increases generally agreed across the labour market. Part of the increase was paid in advance in connection with the job-assessment project. She said teachers had received an 8% pay rise in advance to ensure they took part in the work.