Reykjavík	  17th	  of	  June	  2015	  	  	  News	  from	  Social	  Workers	  in	  Iceland	  -­‐	  The	  fight	  for	  better	  wages.	  
The	  following	  information	  is	  written	  to	  give	  more	  information	  on	  the	  situation	  of	  Social	  Workers	  in	  Iceland.	  
The	  Association	  of	  social	  workers	  in	  Iceland	  is	  a	  union	  and	  we	  are	  a	  member	  of	  the	  Association	  of	  Academics	  in	  Iceland.	  Therefore	  we	  often	  make	  wage	  setting	  agreement	  in	  cooperation	  with	  other	  associations	  of	  Academics	  if	  we	  think	  that	  will	  lead	  to	  a	  better	  conclusion.	  	  Since	  the	  beginning	  of	  2014,	  social	  workers	  and	  other	  academics	  in	  the	  association	  of	  Academics	  working	  for	  the	  State	  have	  been	  fighting	  for	  better	  wages.	  	  The	  reason	  for	  the	  joint	  fight	  of	  the	  academics	  for	  better	  wages	  is	  twofold:	  	  1. Since	  the	  economic	  crisis	  in	  2008	  wages	  of	  public	  professionals	  has	  been	  frozen	  with	  our	  acceptance	  due	  to	  the	  economic	  situation	  in	  Iceland.	  The	  aim	  was	  to	  help	  the	  economic	  situation.	  	  Last	  year	  a	  report	  which	  all	  partners	  of	  the	  labor	  market	  wrote	  showed	  that	  the	  wages	  of	  the	  public	  professions	  had	  risen	  considerably	  less	  than	  the	  wages	  in	  the	  general	  market.	  This	  is	  understandable,	  since	  wages	  in	  the	  public	  market	  only	  rise	  by	  mutual	  wage	  setting	  agreement	  whereas	  in	  the	  general	  market	  wages	  can	  be	  agreed	  on	  personal	  bases.	  After	  this	  report	  and	  because	  Iceland’s	  economy	  is	  on	  a	  rise,	  academics	  in	  Iceland	  made	  a	  claim	  for	  higher	  rise	  of	  wages	  than	  had	  been	  agreed	  upon	  in	  the	  general	  market.	  This	  was	  denied	  on	  behalf	  of	  the	  State.	  In	  May	  2014	  we	  signed	  an	  agreement	  that	  was	  really	  a	  cease	  fire	  and	  the	  State	  was	  very	  well	  aware	  of	  the	  situation.	  	  2. Since	  the	  economic	  crisis	  our	  wage	  setting	  system	  has	  been	  ruined	  due	  to	  the	  downsizing	  in	  public	  welfare	  and	  other	  organizations.	  The	  wage	  setting	  system	  relies	  upon	  the	  organizational	  capacity	  to	  evaluate	  the	  jobs	  and	  the	  wages	  of	  their	  employees.	  
This	  has	  not	  been	  the	  case	  for	  several	  years	  and	  when	  the	  unions	  ask	  for	  new	  agreements	  on	  wages	  with	  the	  organizations	  the	  answer	  has	  been:	  ,,That	  is	  not	  possible,	  we	  do	  not	  have	  the	  financial	  capacity	  to	  make	  any	  changes”.	  	  	  On	  top	  of	  that	  Social	  Workers	  in	  Iceland	  working	  for	  the	  state	  have	  three	  more	  reasons	  to	  fight	  for	  better	  wages:	  	  1. Most	  of	  the	  Social	  workers	  working	  for	  the	  state	  work	  in	  hospitals,	  health	  care	  and	  third	  line	  organizations	  such	  as	  The	  State	  Diagnostic	  and	  Counselling	  Centre	  and	  the	  Government	  Agency	  for	  Child	  Protection.	  Social	  workers	  working	  for	  the	  state	  have	  Félagsráðgjafafélag Íslands | www.felagsradgjof.is | Borgartúni 6 | 105 Reykjavík | Sími 595-5151considerably	  less	  wages	  than	  other	  social	  workers,	  working	  for	  the	  municipalities	  in	  child	  protection	  and	  social	  services.	  The	  difference	  is	  about	  20-­‐25%.	  	  2. Since	  2010	  social	  workers	  have	  been	  graduating	  with	  five	  years	  MA	  degree	  in	  social	  work	  which	  is	  a	  regulated	  profession	  in	  Iceland	  (No	  one	  can	  call	  themselves	  a	  social	  worker	  without	  having	  a	  special	  license	  from	  the	  Directorate	  of	  Health).	  The	  social	  workers	  working	  for	  the	  state	  have	  not	  yet	  had	  their	  wages	  corrected	  in	  relation	  to	  more	  education.	  
3. Last	  but	  not	  least	  social	  workers	  are	  fighting	  for	  better	  wages	  with	  regard	  to	  the	  fact	  that	  their	  wages	  are	  up	  to	  16%	  lower	  than	  the	  average	  wages	  of	  other	  academics	  working	  for	  the	  state.	  	  	  The	  strike	  of	  academics	  in	  Iceland	  7th	  of	  April	  to	  14th	  of	  June	  2015	  Social	  workers	  working	  for	  the	  state	  decided	  in	  2014	  not	  to	  give	  up	  the	  fight	  for	  better	  wages	  and	  when	  asked	  in	  a	  poll	  sent	  from	  the	  Association	  of	  social	  workers,	  more	  than	  95%	  said	  that	  they	  were	  willing	  to	  strike	  to	  support	  their	  claim	  for	  better	  wages.	  	  In	  March	  it	  became	  clear	  that	  the	  majority	  of	  academic	  professionals	  working	  for	  the	  state	  agreed	  with	  social	  workers,	  they	  were	  willing	  to	  strike	  to	  support	  their	  claim	  for	  better	  wages.	  Therefore	  academics	  decided	  to	  strike	  together.	  The	  strike	  was	  organized	  in	  a	  responsible	  way,	  we	  wanted	  the	  strike	  to	  have	  considerable	  effect	  right	  away	  and	  professions	  and	  certain	  organizations	  were	  chosen	  to	  strike	  with	  regard	  to	  the	  general	  effect	  of	  the	  strike.	  Social	  workers	  were	  not	  chosen	  to	  strike,	  neither	  were	  psychologists	  or	  physiotherapists	  for	  example.	  All	  the	  unions	  paid	  jointly	  for	  the	  strike	  that	  started	  on	  the	  7th	  of	  April,	  just	  after	  Easter.	  Altogether	  there	  are	  2300	  academics	  in	  17	  unions	  in	  this	  fight	  for	  better	  wages	  together,	  but	  only	  700	  were	  striking	  (midwifes,	  x-­‐ray	  specialists,	  biomedical	  scientists,	  lawyers,	  veterinarians,	  and	  other	  professions	  working	  in	  the	  National	  Hospital	  and	  in	  the	  Icelandic	  Food	  and	  veterinary	  authority).	  	  The	  State	  has	  offered	  the	  academic	  professionals,	  including	  social	  workers,	  the	  same	  increase	  in	  wages	  as	  has	  been	  agreed	  on	  the	  general	  market	  which	  does	  not	  include	  a	  possibility	  to	  correct	  their	  wages	  and	  the	  special	  claims	  of	  social	  workers	  have	  not	  been	  met.	  
The	  state	  has	  argued	  that	  correcting	  wages	  for	  some	  groups	  will	  have	  difficult	  consequences	  for	  the	  Icelandic	  Economy.	  However,	  this	  winter	  the	  state	  agreed	  to	  increase	  wages	  of	  doctors	  and	  high	  school	  teachers	  considerably	  more	  than	  the	  common	  increase	  was.	  
Therefore	  academics	  are	  furious	  when	  met	  with	  this	  argumentation	  that	  does	  not	  include	  all	  professionals	  working	  for	  the	  state,	  just	  some.	  	  We	  had	  a	  general	  strike	  on	  the	  9th	  of	  April	  and	  since	  than	  we	  have	  been	  protesting	  many	  times,	  on	  1st	  of	  May,	  in	  front	  of	  the	  Government	  offices	  of	  Iceland	  when	  the	  government	  had	  a	  meeting,	  and	  in	  front	  of	  the	  parliament,	  Althingi,	  when	  it	  was	  known	  that	  the	  government	  was	  going	  to	  stop	  the	  strike	  by	  laws.	  	  	  	  Félagsráðgjafafélag Íslands | www.felagsradgjof.is | Borgartúni 6 | 105 Reykjavík | Sími 595-5151Law	  on	  strike	  	  Last	  Saturday,	  the	  parliament	  passed	  a	  law	  ordering	  striking	  academics	  to	  go	  back	  to	  work.	  
The	  law	  gives	  the	  debating	  bodies	  two	  weeks’	  time	  to	  reach	  an	  agreement.	  If	  not,	  an	  arbitration	  committee	  will	  be	  appointed	  on	  the	  1st	  of	  July.	  The	  committee	  will	  have	  the	  power	  to	  decide	  the	  new	  collective	  bargaining	  agreement	  and	  it	  is	  especially	  stated	  in	  the	  law	  that	  the	  committee	  shall	  take	  account	  of	  the	  recently	  signed	  bargaining	  agreements	  in	  the	  general	  market.	  The	  committee	  could	  decide	  to	  have	  the	  duration	  of	  the	  agreement	  for	  many	  years.	  The	  committee	  is	  given	  until	  the	  15th	  of	  August.	  	  During	  this	  time,	  the	  professionals,	  social	  workers	  included,	  are	  expressly	  forbidden	  to	  engage	  in	  any	  strikes,	  work	  stoppages,	  lockouts,	  or	  any	  other	  action	  authorities	  could	  deem	  as	  organized	  worker	  action	  against	  management.	  We	  experience	  these	  laws	  violating	  our	  rights	  to	  make	  an	  independent	  collective	  bargaining	  agreement	  on	  behalf	  of	  our	  members	  as	  well	  as	  our	  right	  to	  strike	  to	  support	  our	  claims.	  People	  are	  angry	  and	  sad.	  	  We	  have	  criticized	  the	  laws	  and	  think	  they	  were	  not	  necessary	  at	  this	  stage	  of	  the	  strike.	  The	  Association	  of	  Academics	  with	  the	  support	  of	  their	  unions	  have	  decided	  to	  take	  the	  Icelandic	  government	  to	  court	  over	  the	  matter,	  arguing	  that	  the	  legislation	  violated	  our	  constitutionally	  protected	  right	  to	  strike.	  	  Today,	  the	  17th	  of	  June,	  is	  our	  Independence	  Day	  and	  on	  the	  19th	  of	  June	  Iceland	  will	  celebrate	  that	  it	  is	  100	  years	  since	  women	  in	  Iceland	  got	  the	  right	  to	  vote.	  We	  have	  a	  huge	  celebration	  that	  day	  in	  Reykjavik	  and	  it	  is	  very	  strange	  to	  celebrate	  women’s	  right	  when	  so	  recently	  the	  women’s	  professions	  such	  as	  social	  workers,	  nurses,	  midwifes,	  have	  had	  their	  right	  to	  strike	  for	  better	  wages	  taken	  from	  them	  by	  law.	  	  	  	  Best	  wishes	  from	  Iceland,	  we	  thank	  you	  for	  the	  support,	  it	  means	  a	  lot	  to	  us.	  
On	  behalf	  of	  the	  Association	  of	  social	  workers	  in	  Iceland,	  	  María	  Rúnarsdóttir	  Chairman	  	  Félagsráðgjafafélag Íslands | www.felagsradgjof.is | Borgartúni 6 | 105 Reykjavík | Sími 595-5151