Teachers approve delay to contract review until March

The Icelandic Teachers’ Union has approved a proposal to postpone a review of its collective agreement until March 15, mbl.is reports. The review concerns work to assess the value of teachers’ jobs.

The proposal was drawn up at a meeting between teachers’ representatives and representatives of municipalities at the state mediator’s office. Teachers were given until midnight to approve it, with the aim of averting a possible termination of the agreements.

The work on assessing teachers’ jobs has taken considerably longer and proved more extensive than initially expected, State Mediator Ástráður Haraldsson told mbl.is. The review clause, which was activated on October 1 and was due to expire that evening, will now be postponed until March 15, when the parties will assess progress.

At that point, the parties can either continue the work through the end of the contract term or terminate the agreement, which would then expire at the end of summer 2027. Pay increases will be postponed while the work continues.

Haraldsson said the aim is to give the parties a clearer idea of what the assessment will deliver before they decide whether to continue. If they cannot agree on the next steps, a committee working under the state mediator will seek ways to resolve the dispute and organise further work, according to a statement from the Association of Local Authorities in Iceland.

Earlier in the week, union chairman Magnús Þór Jónsson said termination of the agreements appeared likely. He said teachers had been told the agreements would not be honoured and had received draft changes that he described as a new, less favourable agreement. Haraldsson said those proposals were not discussed at the meeting. Inga Rún Ólafsdóttir, head of the municipalities’ negotiating committee, has rejected the claim that the municipalities’ draft went beyond the terms of the collective agreements.