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Unequal wages for PhD candidates

Read here about the recently published article on unequal wages for PhD candidates featuring interviews with different people. You can find a short English summary below as well as the link to sign the petition for equal pay for PhD candidates.

English summary by Lisa Tietze

Khrono reports about the current situation in which senior PhD candidates can find themselves earning less than newly employed PhD candidates. In the last two years the salary negotiations have seen an increase in PhD salary. This however mainly applies for new PhD candidates. Since 1st of May 2019, PhD candidates that are unorganized or part of a union in LO Stat, Unio and YS Stat earn 479.600 NOK because they were raised into a new payment framen. A PhD candidate who started a year before that will earn around 8.000 NOK less a year, also from 1st of May 2019, despite being 1 year the senior candidate. The situation is similar for people organized in a union that belongs to Akademikerne.  

 Both Tekna and Forskerforbundet got to say something about the situation as well. Both say that they are aware of the situation and point out that this should be solved locally by the universities. As a good example of that, the university of Bergen appears in the text. UiB took it into their own hands to raise PhD candidates wages into the new pay frame of PhD candidates, who had been employed within the last 12 month before 1st of May 2019.

 If you are unhappy with the situation you have the possibility to contact your local union and sign the petition that was started by, Sinziana Rasca a PhD candidate at Adger University. You can find the petition here.