Secondary school teachers could soon strike after contract talks collapse

Negotiations on a new contract between secondary schools and teachers collapsed on Tuesday after several months of ongoing talks between the two sides. The discussion broke down on Tuesday over demands from labor unions about pressure placed on educators requiring them to squeeze more work into their already difficult schedule, labor union AOb said on Tuesday.

The union said it has been trying to get employers to reach a deal over issues like the number of students in classrooms, requirements to carry out tasks before and after the workday, and a maximum number of hours of teaching per week. “The employers have been saying a resounding ‘no’ to this for months. Now we have finished talking,” said AOb leader Jelmer Evers.

Additionally, the two sides have not come to terms on a pay increase. The unions want a 6 percent pay increase, and AOb said that they have not yet received a counter offer.

Secondary education association VO-Raad represents employers in the negotiation. They said the biggest problem in contract talks are “insurmountable complications” caused by the teachers’ demands, saying that their proposal will actually cause lessons to be cancelled, and thus create even more pressure on teachers and school leaders.

The organization said that it is “not a feasible path” to meet union demands limiting the teaching load to 22 lessons per week, adjustments to work requirements outside of classroom time, and a limit to class sizes. This is “simply because no extra teachers are available for this (teacher shortage), the resources for this are lacking and no justice is done to the differences between schools, teachers and pupils,” the VO-Raad argued.

The organization put forward a counter-proposal to force schools and their employees to work this out apart from the collective agreement. “The cause of work pressure problems does not primarily lie in the teaching task but has multiple causes, including the combination with the other tasks of teachers that are unrelated to teaching.”

“But the employers only wanted to make the agreement that ‘all schools will review their task policy within three years,’” said Evers about the VO-Raad proposal. “With that you are actually saying, we are going to continue on the same path as we have for the past 20 years and that is why we are in this situation. You control work pressure with clear frameworks and preconditions that you as an employee can rely on at your school, and not with a professional dialogue alone.”

The AOb and other teacher unions will now discuss the matter with their members, and will recommend they begin labor actions. These could take a variety of forms, but the AOb said it is most important that educators make themselves heard, stand up for their interests, and stand up for the students who also fall victim when teachers face a high workload.