Divided teachers' union holds congress

The Danish Union of Teachers (DLF) held its congress in November 1999, following deep divisions over a recent collective agreement on working hours. However, the union's president Anni Herfort Andersen remained in office following a close contest with a rival candidate supported by opponents of the agreement, and has strengthened her position. In her report to the congress, Ms Herfort Andersen accused the Danish government, politicians and local authorities of not taking the primary and lower secondary school system seriously and of disclaiming responsibility for the quality of the schools. DLF wants to contribute to reversing this trend.

The 80,000-strong Danish Union of Teachers (Danmarks Lærerforening, DLF) held its congress on 8-12 November 1999 in Copenhagen. In her report to the congress, the union's president, Anni Herfort Andersen, accused the Danish government and local authorities of not taking the primary and lower secondary school system (where DLF represents almost all teachers) seriously and of disclaiming responsibility for the quality of the schools. She described as a clear sign of danger the fact that 13% of parents now choose to send their children to private schools: 10 years ago, the figure was 5%. Where, previously, choosing private education" was typically a matter of a positive opting-in by parents, it has now become a critical opting-out. An opting-out which is a very clear response to the politicians giving lower priority to the primary and lower secondary school system," said Ms Herfort Andersen.

Neglect of primary and lower secondary schools

The local authorities neglect primary and lower secondary schools because the politicians quite simply know too little about the task which they have been given the responsibility of handling, claimed Ms Herfort Andersen, who fears that quality will suffer badly because mayors and local politicians are more interested in economic matters than in the contents of the primary and lower secondary school system. "I often meet well-meaning mayors who have some ideas which show that they are not familiar with the Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. They may have some personal opinions on how the primary and lower secondary school system should be, but, in actual fact, they have no idea of what the tasks are which they are under an obligation to perform. And this situation is quite simply not acceptable," alleged the DLF president. She recommends that the Ministry of Education and Research and the National Association of Local Authorities (Kommunernes Landsforening, KL) should start to look jointly at how local politicians can be given the necessary knowledge. "The government and parliament ("Folketing) are under an obligation to ensure that local authorities meet the objectives and framework laid down, and the local authorities must be forced to assume responsibility for the contents of the school system, said Ms Herfort Andersen. Otherwise the system will drown in the local authorities' focus on economic measures. It cannot be right that the decisive factor in whether children in Denmark learn anything at school is whether they happen to live in a municipality with a good school system, stated Ms Herfort Andersen. The DLF president also accused KL of wanting to use the new collective agreement for teachers as an instrument for economic cutbacks in connection with municipal budgeting.

Dispute about working hours agreement and contested presidency election

A compromise with KL on working hours, agreed in spring 1999, nearly resulted in a split in DLF, and triggered an industrial dispute in the middle of the school examination period. The working hours agreement was reached through conciliation, and was adopted by a narrow majority in a ballot of teachers (DK9905125N). The deal, which will not enter into force until 1 August 2000, is a framework agreement and it is up to the local authorities in the individual municipalities to negotiate the details locally. By contrast with the previous agreement, in which teaching hours, preparation hours and other working hours were placed in a relatively rigid framework, the new working hours agreement allows greater possibilities for influencing locally the distribution of working hours and the quality of the teaching. This is the opinion of KL, which is shared by many - but far from all - of the teachers.

Many of the delegates at the congress - around 45% - did not think that the new agreement on working hours was the best result which the DLF executive could have negotiated. Instead, they saw a weak executive which played into the hands of KL and allowed excessively wide interpretations of the agreement to the advantage of the local authorities. Therefore, they put up a rival candidate for the presidency, Anders Bondo Christensen, who stated at the congress that the new agreement would, without doubt, mean that it would become cheaper for the local authorities to let teachers teach more, without the teachers having any say in this. However, the incumbent president, Ms Herfort Andersen, weathered the storm. The majority of delegates did not think that the teachers' position of strength would be weakened locally, as there is no unemployment among teachers, but rather a shortage of them. By a narrow majority of 21 votes (165 against 144), Ms Herfort Andersen was re-elected as president. The depth of disagreement among the teachers was emphasised by the closeness of the vote in the election for vice-president - 158 against 150.

Commentary

The re-elected president, Anni Herfort Andersen, has emerged strengthened from the power struggle in DLF. Despite the narrow margin of votes in the election, she is in a stronger position than before the congress: her mandate has been tested, and the opposition will have to accept it. Her very sharp criticism of ministers, local authorities and own members showed that she dared to put her position on the line, and that the union, as a professional organisation, attaches great importance to school policy and educational development. DLF pursues a dual strategy in which the emphasis is on safeguarding the interests of its members in terms of both trade union policy and school policy and educational issues. The president's report was adopted by a clear majority of delegates, which was an indication on the part of the opposition that it is willing to cooperate, as it later promised that it would do after the presidency election. Teachers in Denmark have a tradition of taking democracy very seriously, both externally by virtue of their role in society and internally in their trade union. The words of the president are not taken as the gospel truth. Therefore, the large majority for the report, as opposed to the narrow majority for the person, could indicate that the discontent has more to do with the president than with the programme. A decisive factor in Ms Herfort Andersen's new term as president will be how the local authorities choose to handle the new collective agreement. The question is whether they will use it as a tool for economic management, or as a means of jointly developing quality with teachers, so that the Danish primary and lower secondary school system can mend the currently tarnished reputation which Ms Herfort Andersen presented in her report at the congress. The collective agreement gives the teachers good possibilities of wielding influence. There is an increasing shortage of teachers, and this will strengthen their local bargaining position. (Carsten Jørgensen, FAOS)