Newsletter May

UiO's buildings are being reopened

For further information, please see, 
https://www.uio.no/english/about/hse/corona/news/

Codetermination 

It has been very important to make sure that we have codetermination in this period of crisis. This is a part of the Basic Agreement for the Civil Service. We are currently reminding the leadership about this. The union representatives need to be involved in important decisions. The right of codetermination is best exercised through the elected union representative, and it shall be exercised in such a way that the employees are involved in the process of planning and decision-making as early as possible. An example is planning of digital teaching of this autumn. We are also concerned about the situation for all employees still working from home. Some lack equipement, others struggle with digital teaching or meetings being digital. 

The Basic Collective Agreement for the Civil Service

Local Salary negotiations HTA, 2.5.3:

The negotiation in April were postponed to June. 

- May 21 is the deadline for members to submit a claim, https://foreninger.uio.no/forskerforbundet/english/salary-laws-regulations/index.html 

These negotiations are authorised in the BCA, clause 2.5.3. Negotiations usually takes place five times a year. The employer or the Union can demand to negotiate a new salary and/or change of position code, with important changes in the position’s responsibility and tasks.

To be able to submit a claim you have to meet one of the following requirements:

• Significant changes to the employee’s tasks (the claim must be documented so that it is possible to measure the changes. What is crucial is that the employee is given tasks which demand something of a higher quality than before, and that the new tasks are on a higher level.) – BCA, clause 2.5.3,1a
• Made an extraordinary work effort (beyond what is expected) – BCA, clause 2.5.3, 2
• Problems in recruiting or retaining specially qualified labour.
  If the claim is based on recruitment considerations, it must be documented that there is a real risk of losing especially valuable expertise.

NAR put forward claims for their members:

Claims based on extraordinary effort or recruitment considerations are negotiated with the organisations, but in case of disagreement the employer’s last offer counts. If there are other reasons for you deserving a higher salary, the demand has to be negotiated in the local salary negotiations (clause 2.5.1).

Salary negotiations HTA, 2.5.1:
The central negotiations at national level, starts at the end of August and lasts until October 14. We don't know more about the local situation yet.
 

PhD and postdoctoral fellows

The question has been raised about whether PhD and postdoctoral fellows may be granted an extension of their employment in connection with delays due to the corona crisis. 

So far, this is only possible for PhD students, https://www.uio.no/english/about/hse/corona/guidelines/extention-doctoral-research-fellows.html

If the current situation will endure, we are certain that many employees will experience delays in their work. We are worried that not only our PhDs, but also postdocs and researchers on externally funded projects will be more severely effected by the situation than other employees. 

We are still working to find solutions for postdocs and reseachers at UiO, but also at a national level.