2-day strike begins at private schools, daycares

Private schools and daycare centre remain closed across the country as the employees started a two-day strike on Tuesday demanding negotiations on the union members’ terms and conditions of employment in the private teaching sector.

The unions decided to go for the strike as the National Conciliator’s conciliation proposal was rejected on Friday, said the Public and Welfare Sectors Trade Union- JHL in a press release.

The strike started at 12:01 am and scheduled to end at 11:59 pm on Wednesday.

The strike involves 1,500 staff of 16 private schools affecting 19,000 students.

JHL, the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ) and the Federation of Public and Private Sector Employees- Jyty have conducted collective agreement negotiations with Finnish Education Employers (FEE) all spring.

The aim of these negotiations has been a new collective agreement on the terms and conditions of employment in the private teaching sector, but the negotiations were unsuccessful and were stopped.

The ongoing will affect Helsingin suomalainen yhteiskoulu, Herttoniemen Yhteiskoulu ja reaalilukio, Hyria Koulutus Oy, International School of Helsinki, Kalevan lukio, Tampere, Kouluyhdistys Pestalozzi Schulverein Skolföreningen – Helsingin saksalainen koulu, Kulosaaren Yhteiskoulu, Lahden yhteiskoulun säätiö, Lauttasaaren Yhteiskoulu, Oulunkylän Yhteiskoulu, Pohjois-Haagan Yhteiskoulu, Suomen Diakoniaopisto – Sdo Oy, Svenska samskolan i Tammerfors, Tampereen yhteiskoulun lukio, Töölön Yhteiskoulu, Viipurin reaalikoulu – Maunulan Yhteiskoulu and Helsingin Matematiikkalukio.