Annual Report 2019-2020

21 E F L I N G A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 9 – 2 0 2 0 the City of Reykjavík at the end of 2019 and in the beginning of 2020. The first phase of actions consisted of the organized visits of Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling, to 30 of the city’s workplaces and various welfare institutions run by the state, in the autumn. Their aim was to listen for the perspectives of the staff and their views regarding further action. Seeing as the employees were so willing to take part in the struggle, signatures were gathered among city employees to pressure the municipal authorities to finalize negotiations. Union representatives handed to Dagur B. Eggertsson a list of signatures signed by over 900 employees from 120 of the city’s workplaces, call- ing on him to reach a collective agreement with Efling on December 17 th of 2019. THE CITY IS IN OUR HANDS The department’s staff worked together on a project regarding a vote on strike action, the dissemination of information, organizing events, daily meetings with union representatives and strike guarding in the strike action of Efling against the municipal authorities of Reykjavík from February 17 th to March 10 th of this year. A total of three solidarity rallies were held with packed houses in Iðnó during that time-period. An open negotiation was called, as well as a press con- ference in Bragginn a symbolic protest as the equal rights conference ( Jafnréttisþing ) commenced and a consultative meetingwith city employees took place at Gamla bíó. A campaign of public relations and advertisements under the heading of Borgin er í okkar höndum ( the city is in our hand s) to follow up on the struggle of city employees for improved wages. The campaign gained a lot of attention, particularly short videos including the personal narratives of individuals transmitted on TV, social media and other internet platforms. It’s safe to say that the contribution of the organizing- and development department played a role in secur- ing an agreement for significant wage increases for the members of Efling who work for the state on March 7 th and for those who work for the City of Reykjavík on March 10 th . The agreement included a raise beyond those in the so-called Quality of Life Agreements for the lowest paid wage earners, emphasizing women in historically undervalued, traditionally female profes- sions. Both agreements were approved by an over- whelming number of votes cast. COVID-19 IMPEDES ACTIONS After negotiations with the City of Reykjavík had concluded, Efling called on SÍS (Icelandic Association of Local Authorities) to offer comparable wage increases to its members in comparable professions within Kópavogur, Seltjarnarnesbær, Mosfellsbær, Hveragerði and Ölfus. The demands of Efling were not met by SÍS which resulted in a strike call on behalf of Efling in the municipalities on March 9 th . The divi- sion’s staff followed through on the actions by assisting union members in issuing statements to the municipal authorities in question. It was all for naught, result- ing in a postponement of strike actions because of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 25 th . 400 VISITS The busy season on wage struggles has impeded plans for visits to work places and increasing the number of union representatives. Nevertheless, the number of visits of the departments’s staff reached 400 during the time-period because of strike-votes, presenta- tions and other business. The purpose of 99 of these was to assist in the selection of union representatives, education and responding to queries. The purpose of most of the elections was to elect a new union representative to fill the shoes of the outgoing union representative. The number of union representatives grew since the previous year, however, as the table below illustrates. UNION REPRE- SENTATIVES TOTAL 2019 2018 2017 278 264 226 WOMEN MEN ICELANDIC 164 153 135 114 111 91 223 188 13 FOREIGN 55 63 38 POLISH 24 35 14 OTHER EUROPEAN OUTSIDE EUROPE 29 20 14 2 8 3