Reykjavík Grapevine - mar. 2020, Side 10

10 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 03— 2020
City Worker Strikes
Affectin% Reykjavík
More strikes on the horizon if no deal reached
Representatives of the labour union Efling met
with representatives of the City of Reykjavík
in February in an e%ort to reach a collective
bargaining agreement, to no avail. As such,
Reykjavík City workers in Efling are now on
strike.
Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson spoke about the
city’s o%er on the roundtable news discussion
show Kastljósi!. Dagur revealed that the city
had o%ered to raise the monthly salaries of
untrained playschool workers from 310,000
ISK to 420,000 ISK, with an additional monthly
workload payment of 40,000 ISK, with the
salary raising to 460,000 ISK at the end of the
contract period.
In addition, playschool directors would
see their monthly salaries go from 417,000 to
520,000 ISK, going up to 572,000 ISK by the end
of the contract period, as well as a shortened
work week.
An end in sight?
However, salary increases were not the only
matter of concern for Efling. In a statement
posted to the union’s website, they revealed
that their o%er also included additional
payments to workers depending on
“professional responsibilities, workload, work-
related costs and other factors”, which would
be paid on top of the base salary.
That said, Efling and the city are, at the time
of this writing, in tentative talks in hopes of
ending the strike soon. It remains to be seen
what comes of that. Meanwhile, workers for
BSRB (The Federation of State and Municipal
Employees) have voted overwhelmingly in
favour of a strike, which is set to begin on
March 9 with a series of stoppages, and a
general strike commencing on April 15 if no
deal is reached.
The inevitable happened on Friday,
February 28th when the first confirmed
case of COVID-19, better known as
coronavirus, was reported in Iceland.
Two other cases were confirmed over
the subsequent weekend. At the time
of writing, 34 people have been diag-
nosed with the virus and are under
home quarantine. In all of these cases,
the afflicted are Icelanders who had
recently returned from northern Italy,
which has been labelled a high risk
zone for the virus, or Austria.
The response
Health care workers and civil protec-
tion authorities have been very quick
to respond. About 300 people have
already been placed in home quar-
antine, and the Directorate of Health
has been diligent in dispensing infor-
mation in many languages on how to
prevent infection.
Even amongst those not directly
affected, the impact has been felt.
Stores have been experiencing a run on
hand sanitiser, and are trying hard to
keep up with the demand. The labour
union Efling has allowed an exception
for their city workers strike, enabling
sanitation workers to attend to the
garbage accumulating around town.
Best practices
It bears emphasising that the best
defense against COVID-19 is wash-
ing your hands frequently with warm
soapy water, especially after touch-
ing common surfaces. Avoid touching
your face, too. Most of all, don’t panic
and don’t be rude to Chinese or Italian
tourists, or tourists of any nationality,
really.
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo: Directorate of Health
While there is still little chance of
catching the coronavirus in the wild,
you should still take precautions. The
Directorate of Health o%ers the fol-
lowing guide:
The Directorate advises that if
you have been to a high-risk area for
the virus recently, or been in contact
with anyone who has, to monitor your
health closely. High risk areas include
“China, four provinces in Northern It-
aly (Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romag-
na, and Piedmont), South-Korea, and
Iran”.
If you begin to display symptoms
of COVID-19 within 14 days of such
contact, you are urged to call 1700
from an Icelandic phone number or
+354 544 4113 from any other phone,
where a health care professional
will give you further information and
guidance. The symptoms of COVID-19
include fever, coughing, and aches in
the bones.
To prevent transmission or con-
tact with the virus, the cardinal rule is
to wash your hands frequently before
eating and a'er touching common
surfaces, and avoid touching your
face. If you must sneeze or cough,
do so into the crook of your elbow or
into a tissue. It also naturally follows
that you should avoid contact with
sick people.
Also importantly, please don’t
treat visitors from Italy or China poor-
ly. As awful as coronavirus infection
is, xenophobia is a far worse disease,
but very easy to prevent catching.
How To Avoid
Getting The
Coronavirus
According to the
Directorate of Health
Coronavirus Hits Iceland
34 confirmed cases so far, hundreds in
quarantine
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Landspitali.is
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo: Efling
Where the magic happens. Magic: You washing your dirty hands.
News
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo: No Borders
Maní, a trans teen from Iran, was
originally slated to be deported along
with his parents last month, but, after
concerted public outcry the Immigra-
tion Appeals Board has agreed to exam-
ine the family’s case.
Maní and his family fled Iran in
February 2019 and went to Portugal.
Stundin reports that just two days later,
the family received word that they were
being sought for arrest by Sepah, also
known as the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps. Not wanting to take any
chances, they left Portugal for Iceland
in March 2019, seeking asylum here.
The Dublin problem
However, because Portuguese authori-
ties gave the family a travel visa, Icelan-
dic authorities declined to open their
case and instead invoked the Dublin
Regulation, an international agree-
ment which gives signatory states the
right—although not the obligation—to
return asylum seekers to their previous
point of departure. The regulation is
controversial, as it has created bottle-
necks at asylum seeker entry points
across Europe. Germany, for example,
has already agreed to stop evoking the
regulation for Syrian refugees.
Furthermore, the decision is in
direct contravention of both Icelandic
law on the rights of the child, Article
1 of which states “The best interests
of the child should always take prec-
edence when making decisions about
their issues.” It also contravenes the
UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child, to which Iceland is a signatory
country.
Trans Teen Asylum Seeker
Deportation Delayed
Not out of the woods yet
Maní belongs in Iceland
Imagine getting a giant check. Now imagine the opposite. (Mayor Dagur B. on the right)