The Danish government will end the ongoing teacher lockout by a bill that will force teachers to accept new working conditions. A majority in the Danish Parliament supports the bill that will end four weeks of treacher lockout.
At a press conference this morning, PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) explained that the conflict had to end. “We’ve reached a point where it is necessary to step in,” she said.
The government’s bill will force teachers to adopt new working conditions primarily that school leaders will have the final say on how teachers divide their working hours.
The government’s intervention is significant because it breaks with the traditional method for setting working conditions, the so-called ‘Danish Model’, in which unions and employers negotiate collective bargaining agreements without the involvement of the government.
Thorning-Schmidt said that written exams in the ninth and tenth grades (13 to 15-year-olds) will be postponed until the period of May 13-23.
Source: The Copenhagen Post Peter Stanners