Local Staff Council for Primary Schools in the Oberberg District

The tasks of the staff councils are regulated by the State Staff Representation Act (LPVG NRW). In a spirit of trustful cooperation, the staff unit and the staff council are obliged to constructively exchange views for the benefit of employees, address issues, and find compromises while balancing partially conflicting interests. In doing so, the interests of the employer, the individual employee, and the entirety of the employees must be weighed against each other.

• We advise you on all topics related to your daily work and the

• associated rights and obligations.

• We accompany you in discussions with the school board and district government and support you in written exchanges with the staff unit.

• We help you make your legitimate interests heard.

• We work together with you to find sustainable solutions.

On the three levels of staff councils for employees in primary schools, elected representatives of the Verband Bildung und Erziehung (VBE) and the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) sit.
The VBE is affiliated with the German Civil Service Federation together with other interest groups of school forms (e.g., Philologenverband). The GEW is a school- and education-wide union organized within the German Trade Union Confederation. Especially in the Local Staff Council (ÖPR) in Oberberg, we are very proud of the good and constructive cooperation between the two factions - always in the interest of the employees.
The staff councils represent all state employees of a school form. This includes not only teachers (permanent or temporary) but also social pedagogues and trainee teachers.
The number of members of the staff council is determined by the number of employees to be represented. In our ÖPR, the committee has 11 members. The representative for the severely disabled also participates in the meetings in an advisory capacity.

For primary schools in NRW, staff representation is divided into three levels, which we would like to briefly explain using the current decisions during the Corona pandemic.
The main guidelines for adapted school operations are decided at the Ministry of Schools and Education under Minister Gebauer. In Düsseldorf, the Main Staff Council (HPR) advocates for your interests. Based on the guidelines set there, the district governments (for us in Cologne) regulate, for example, the allocation of funds and positions to individual school boards. The District Staff Council (BPR) is located here. At each school board (for the Oberberg district in Gummersbach), there is a Local Staff Council (ÖPR), which co-determines, for example, on secondments and transfers. Directly at the grassroots level, at each school, there is a Teachers' Council (LR). This is involved, for example, in creating hygiene plans on-site.
Members of all staff representation levels have a legal right to regularly attend training courses. These are offered by the unions and associations as well as the district government and are free of charge for participants.
Good cooperation between the individual levels is enormously important so that staff representation can advocate for the interests and concerns of employees from the grassroots to the top.

In addition to involvement in recruitment procedures, workplace safety inspections, regular exchanges with the staff unit, and participation in personnel measures, the advice, accompaniment, and support of employees in primary schools in the Oberberg district take up the largest share of our activity spectrum. The annual activity report sent out in February revealed that the number of our consultations increased significantly again last year (+25%). This trend continued, especially during the Corona pandemic. In addition to our general consultation topics, we are now particularly concerned with the areas of work and health protection, overtime, as well as civil service and collective bargaining law. Colleagues are considering how to protect themselves, especially if they have risk factors for a severe course of Covid19. Temporarily leaving in-person teaching through a medical certificate is a difficult decision. Pregnant colleagues face additional risk factors. What happens if I become ill or have to quarantine? How do all these uncertainties affect salary payments? Part-time staff face excessive workloads (overtime) due to the demands of adapted school operations. Employees wonder what rights they have as parents in the event of school or daycare closures, illness, or quarantine of their child. Secondments must be carried out by the staff unit, and transfers are still desired by colleagues. Nearly weekly, legal regulations were changed or newly created.
Schools, employees, and staff representation had to and still have to react to this ad hoc. Necessary changes to the training course also occurred for trainee teachers, leading to uncertainties. Plans for parental leave, sabbaticals, retirement, pensions, and part-time in block models still need to be made and advanced.
We, the members of the Local Staff Council, advise you on all these and many other topics! We provide information, work with you to find solutions, and know the responsibilities and the right contacts. If we are aware of your concerns, we can support you effectively!
Therefore: Call us, write to us, or arrange a personal appointment in our office in Gummersbach or at your school!