Strike calls for municipalities and privately-run schools approved with an overwhelming majority

About 90% of the members of Efling who voted on strikes in privately-run and with municipalities outside Reykjavík have voted to approve strike actions. The actions are currently set to begin on March 9th with a great majority supporting them.The voter turnout among union members with privately-run schools was 52%, with 152 og 291 union members voting. 137, that is 90%, approved a strike call, 14, that is 9%, opposed it and 1, that is 0,66% abstained. This is a sympathy strike.Turnout among union members employed by Kópavogur, Seltjarnarnes, Mosfellsbær, Hveragerðisbær and Ölfus was 48%, with 131 of 274 of the registered members voting. 114, that is 87%, approved the strike call and 14, that is 11%, opposed it and 3, that is 2%, abstained.Of those who didn’t abstain, 89% of the union members employed by the municipalities approve of the strike call and 91% of union members at the privately-run schools. The results reflect the overwhelming support of the union members for these strike calls.“These results demonstrate how willing people are to do what they can to aid in the struggle for improved wages. These are groups in comparable jobs to those of our union members who are currently striking against the City of Reykjavík. The same intolerably underpaid jobs, under unacceptable pressure and conditions. The municipalities and institutions where our children and our elderly parents are taken care of, are the country’s biggest low-wage work places of the country. The time of change has arrived, no honest person can deny that anymore,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling.