Efling and SGS, the general and special workers’ federation, had a meeting with the negotiation committee of SÍS, the Association of Local Authorities, today. The committee negotiates on behalf of all municipalities except Reykjavík. One of the things discussed today was the 105,000kr payment to workers, to give them the benefit of general raises negotiated this spring, while waiting for new agreements. Reykjavík city, the state, and several institutions paid it to their workers on August 1. Efling and SGS want this to be paid to other municipal workers on September 1.The negotiators of Efling and SGS thought it clear that the demand should be met. It was not. This came as a great disappointment to our negotiators.Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, head of Efling, calls this posture reprehensible, especially given the recent news on the enormous wages enjoyed by mayors and other municipal bosses. These high wages are justified with reference to the great responsibility and time that their work entails.”Talking of concepts such as responsibility and diligence, it might be interesting to consider the irresponsibility of SÍS allowed itself this summer, when it decided not to pay the 105,000kr to its Efling and other SGS workers. This sum is meant to ease their wait for new collective agreements, giving them the raise already negotiated in the private market. It is also worth mentioning the responsibility carried by the lowest paid municipal workers every single day at work. That responsibility carries so little weight for the powerful that they don’t give it its due, even though they know that without all these working hands, there would be no municipality to govern, no enormous wages to allot oneself.”
