The negotiating committee of Efling would like to express its disappointment and deep concern because of the fruitless negotiation with the negotiating committee of the City of Reykjavík at the state mediator’s office today.The negotiating committee criticizes the chaos, tardiness and inconsistency in the city’s behavior, which is in no way consistent with the degree of seriousness of the wage dispute. According to the negotiating committee, the representatives of the City of Reykjavík do not sense how much is riding on them working quickly and surely towards resolving the dispute.During the meeting there was no response forthcoming as to what the true essence of the proposal from the City of Reykjavík since before the weekend was, while there was a lot of inconsistency between that which was presented during the negotiation and that which the city described in the media. The negotiating committee of Efling issued a statement on this matter last Monday. No concrete response to the statement of the negotiating committee was put forth during today’s meeting. Nothing was put forth to build the basis for negotiation which seemed to be on the horizon at that point in time.It seems that the city’s negotiating committee and the mayor speak at cross-purposes, which leads to unclear messaging and an inability to properly evaluate the real status of the dispute.“We simply don’t know with whom we are negotiating and who has the actual mandate to resolve the matter on behalf of the city. The mayor makes sweet promises in the media, but what happens at the negotiating table is completely inconsistent with that,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, the chairman of Efling.“It seems as though the mayor intervened in this wage dispute in the media, not to honestly contribute to its solution but to mislead us, the members of Efling, the media and the general public. What are the real intentions of the City of Reykjavík and who’s at the helm? I don’t know the answer and I have nothing to bring to our members after this meeting but disappointment. The time for games is over and it’s unfortunate that the City of Reykjavík doesn’t sense that,” said Sólveig Anna.The strike will continue for an indefinite time-period, as will the struggle of the members of Efling.
