Collective Bargaining, Tax justice, Norway

Trade unions across the three confederations – LO, YS and Unio – have negotiated changes to the main state agreement that regulates the relations between unions and the government. With many government agencies facing restructuring, the unions are pleased that the new agreement, that runs until 2025, will strengthen co-determination and ensure trade unions are involved in tackling change and the introduction of, for example, new digital tools and processes. The agreement also reinforces the commitment of both sides to address sustainability and climate change and has clearer wording around

The Fagforbundet public service union has underlined that it wants to maintain its key priorities for the pay bargaining round that has been deferred to the autumn. The union aims to address the situation of skilled workers who have fallen behind on pay in recent years. It also wants to see the work done by many public service workers during the pandemic properly recognise, stressing that it may not be appropriate to target specific occupations as many services are provided by team work and so it would not necessarily be fair to reward some and not others. Fagforbundet is aware of the

The Fagforbundet public services union is working to ensure that its members benefit from provisions in collective agreements - in this case in the municipal sector and covering childcare - that ensure that workers are paid the appropriate wage for their experience and qualifications. Workers can get up to six years of service-related pay if they have been away from work because of caring responsibilities. Migrant workers can also get qualifications and experience from other countries taken into account. The union gives the example of a childcare worker from Lithuania who saw a NOK 104000 (EUR

The YS group of unions is looking for substantial real wage growth in this year's negotiations on pay. Its recent conference on wages highlighted the fact that while wages increased on average by 2.8% in 2018, this marked only a small increase in real terms as prices rose by 2.7%. In fact the union points out that on average wages in real terms are no different from five years ago and so with unemployment falling and a relatively positive outlook it is time for trade unions to push for higher wage growth.

More workers have come forward to join legal action against the Aleris care company following revelations about employment and working conditions made earlier this month (see epsucob@NEWS 16). Public service union Fagforbundet says that the company is avoiding its social, employment and tax obligations by taking workers on as self-employed "consultants" rather than employees. The union has taken this up with the authorities and a further eight workers have joined the 17 who were already involved in legal action. Some of these workers have been summarily dismissed or are given excessive hours

The Fagforbundet trade union has reported the Aleris Ungplan and Boi private care company to the authorities for possible breaches of labour, health and safety, tax and even criminal law. The union has taken up cases for a number of workers who have been denied their rights on pay, sick pay and pensions and forced to work excessive hours. The cases mainly involve workers who were taken on as "consultants" rather than employees so that the company could avoid paying pension, sickness and other costs. The company is a subsidiary of a major private sector health and social care provider, Aleris

Nurses employed by the Cancer Society will see their pay and conditions protected after the longest strike ever organised by the NSF nurses' union. The strike was called when the employers moved to a new employers' organisation with a poorer collective agreement. The new agreement will protect the union's right to strike and ensure that industry-standard minimum pay rates apply.

The strike by nurses at the Norwegian Cancer Society has passed the 100-day mark and the NSF trade union is determined to maintain the action. The strike, the longest by nurses in Norway, is in protest at the Society's decision to switch employer organisations and by so doing sign up to a different collective agreement which means poorer pay and conditions for the nurses. The strike has received widespread support not only from the trade union movement but also from patient and retirement associations.

Nurses at the Cancer Society, supported by their union, the NSF, are continuing their strike in protest at the Society's decision to switch employer organisations to take advantage of a poorer collective agreement. This is the longest strike in the union's history (see first epsucob@NEWS report in issue 10) and the NSF says it is gaining more and more support.

The NSF nurses' trade union organised a rally outside parliament on 10 August and were joined by representatives of other unions, including Fagforbundet, Unio and the LO trade union confederation. The unions expressed support for the NSF's long-running strike against the Cancer Society. The unions say the strike is important action in protest against the Society's decision to move from one employers' organisation to another to take advantage of a different collective agreement, with poorer terms and conditions for workers.

(June 2017) The NSF nurses' union is supporting a strike of its members at the Cancer Society. The union wants to defend its members' pay and conditions and the right to strike in the face of changes introduced by the Cancer Society when it switched its membership to the NHO employers' organisation. The NSF argues that not only does this mean a worsening of the pay and conditions of nurses but gives the Society the right to unilaterally terminate an agreement. The strike is getting widespread support from trade unions and other bodies, including pensioner organisations. EPSU sent a message of

(March 2017) The LO confederation has called for work for all and fair distribution as unoins gear up for the 2017 bargaining round that will focus on pay. Fagforbundet, one of the main LO affiliates, has called for a real increase following last year's average 2.4% pay rise which left many workers worse off as inflation reached 3.2%. In tune with the message from the ETUC's pay rise campaign, Mette Nord, head of Fagforbundet and one of EPSU vice-presidents underlined the need for a pay rise that would benefit both workers and the economy.