Make sure you are up to speed on the lockout

The dispute in this year’s collective bargaining that threatens to shut down the public sector from 10th April, is also behind considerable uncertainty among employees at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH).

As a government workplace, most of the staff who are members of a trade union will be  locked out by their employer, the Danish government, unless there is a negotiated solution in the Conciliation Board beforehand.

This means that the employees will be sent home without pay, but will receive strike pay from their trade union.

Everyone needs to be informed

Signe Møller Johansen, union representative for technical administrative staff, and Thomas Vils Pedersen, union representative for academic staff at UCPH, both get a lot of questions about the lockout. They say that employees are presently experiencing a lot of uncertainty.

The union representatives are therefore to hold four meetings for all employees, whether they are members of a union or not, to come and learn more about what the dispute will mean for them. One of the meetings will be in English (Wednesday 21/3 from 15.15 to 17.00 at North Campus, Large UP1 at DIKU, Universitetsparken 1-3).

The topics to be discussed include, the lockout in general and why it may come about; the options for avoiding the dispute; who will be subject to lockout; which financial compensation you can get as a member of a trade union; and how the lockout will affect employees who are not union members.

“Through these information meetings, we will ensure that all employees get access to the information that we have, and that they get the opportunity to ask questions. There may be questions that we, or UCPH management, cannot answer, but we will pass the questions from the meetings further up the system,” says Thomas Vils Pedersen.

Many open questions

Signe Møller Johansen says that the union representatives get many questions from colleagues at the moment, including questions on who is included in the dispute, and what it will mean for planned holidays, courses, and work-related travelling plans.

“We know that have already held several smaller meetings to calm things down after the first unrest in connection with the lockout notice. But with these meetings, we want to make sure that all academic staff have the opportunity to get relevant information and qualified answers directly from the trade unions. We have therefore also invited a consultant from the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM) for all meetings, just like the Danish Association of Lawyers and Economists (DJØF) will be present at least on Tuesday and Wednesday,” she says and adds:

“The meetings are about explaining why we have ended up in this dispute with the employers, and what it is that we are fighting for: Reasonable working conditions, the Danish model and a strong public sector.”

UCPH has made a theme site for employees on KUnet about the strike/lockout. (Needs login)