The city negotiates with Samtokin ´78
At its meeting yesterday, the City Council approved an agreement with Samtokin ´78 regarding services and education. The contract is for three years and the City of Reykjavík pays the association 8.7 million annually. The executive director of the association says that the agreement will allow for unchanged activities to be maintained, at least at the beginning of next year.
The ´78 organization laid off all four of its employees at the end of September and also the contractors working for the organization. Director Daníel E. Arnarsson said that it was an emergency measure, as the organization’s contracts with both the city and the state were expiring, and without service contracts, the organization’s operational basis would be broken.
Daniel was all the more relieved yesterday when it became clear that the contract with the city was in the offing. “This means that we can at least open in January, but we are still waiting for parties, first of all the Prime Minister’s Office.” However, Daniel says that so far he does not trust himself to withdraw the staff layoffs, rather that he has to need to come to He says he is optimistic that the agreements with the state will be successful, the Prime Minister’s Ministry has sent a message to the effect that there is a lot to negotiate with the organizations. “I hope to have answers by mid-December.”