Norway’s large labour confederation LO is urging its members to use bank- or credit cards when paying for services like hair cuts and car washes. The labour leaders think it will cut it into the black market by forcing more traceable transactions.
“If everyone paid with cards, it will be much more difficult to operate outside the law,” Trude Tinnlund of LO told the organization’s own magazine, LO Aktuelt.
LO and tax authorities suspect that low-price hair salons and car washes are avoiding employer taxes and neglecting to register all their transactions. Several salons and car washes, often run by immigrants and offering prices much lower than Norwegian-run establishments, have already been subjected to audits.
Many consumers appreciate the alternative to paying the equivalent of USD 100 or more for a standard haircut in Oslo, but the hair dressers’ national organization, the labour unions and the authorities are suspicious. Tinnlund doesn’t want anyone to use cash to pay for a NOK 200 haircut (USD 30), as part of LO’s campaign against lower wages and social dumping.
newsinenglish.no staff
