Widerøe on strike, flights grounded

Flight attendants for the Norwegian commuter airline Widerøe went on strike Wednesday, stranding an estimated 11,000 passengers on the eve of the long Ascension Day holiday weekend. All flights by the carrier, which serves many small and often remote communities around the country, were grounded. The strike comes just days after it was announced that [...]

New labour boss makes history

The election of Gerd Kristiansen as the new boss of Norway’s largest trade union federation LO means that the country’s two most powerful positions in the business and labour sectors are now held by women. Given poll results leading into the next national elections, Norway’s next prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister may be [...]

Strike threatens newspapers, TV2

Norway’s national journalists’ union NJ (Norsk Journalistlag) has threatened to call a strike from Saturday after its negotiators failed to reach agreement with the media employers’ organization Mediebedriftenes Landsforening (MBL). TV2 and newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) are among media outlets where journalists and other NJ members may be ordered to walk off the job. The [...]

Lunchbreaks halt harbour traffic

A fierce labour battle has created severe indigestion among maritime employers, harbour workers in Oslo and their trade unions over the workers’ longstanding tradition of taking meal breaks together.  The harbour comes to a standstill every day while workers head to the canteen, take out their sandwiches and enjoy what their employers are calling “the [...]

Labour working on Labour Day

Norway’s traditional Labour Day celebrations on May 1 were taking on distinctly political overtones this year, as the Labour Party and others on the left side of Norwegian politics gear up for the fall election campaigns. They’re keen to hang on to power in the looming parliamentary election on September 9, and weren’t missing the [...]

Pressure grows on ‘au pair’ program

UPDATED: A television documentary on the exploitation that often faces foreigners arriving in Norway on “au pair” contracts was setting off more alarms this week over what’s supposed to be a cultural exchange program. The plight of several young women from the Philippines, who ended up as little more than domestic servants and even sex [...]

Breivik’s defender back in the news

Geir Lippestad, the Norwegian defense attorney who represented terrorist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik last year, has been back in the news over the past week after releasing a new book and making a political appearance as a local Labour Party leader. He doesn’t think it was any lack of security or poor police [...]

Norway closer to drafting women

Norway’s Labour Party has become the latest to approve a measure promoting mandatory gender-neutral military service for young Norwegian citizens. It was the second-most debated issue at Labour’s national meeting over the weekend, and means women would be subject to compulsory military duty just as their male counterparts have been for years. Labour’s coalition government [...]

Labour goes for the (black) gold

A weekend of hefty internal debate among delegates to the ruling Labour Party’s national meeting in Oslo ended with a majority going along with the party leadership’s plans to actively consider oil exploration and drilling off Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja. The party’s youth organization AUF vowed to continue the fight against oil activity off the [...]

Stoltenberg fires up the troops

Labour Party leader Jens Stoltenberg remains a popular prime minister in Norway, but his party has been lagging in the polls and his coalition government has lost hundreds of thousands of voters. That’s why he needed to spend his weekend firing up enthusiasm at the party’s national meeting, where he was also finally winning support [...]

Opposition grows to Olympic plans

The Oslo chapter of Norway’s largest labour confederation, LO, has voted overwhelmingly to actively oppose plans by city officials to host the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 2022. Mayor Fabian Stang, meanwhile, is clearing the way for foreign residents of Oslo to be able to vote on the Olympic issue after all, after initially being [...]

Inspectors set to land on Ryanair

A special meeting among state aviation authorities, government officials and labour leaders has resulted in a warning that Irish airline Ryanair is about to get unannounced visits from state aviation and labour inspectors. Recent turbulence around Ryanair, however, hasn’t scared off passengers, with ticket sales soaring during the past week. “The inspection and examination of [...]

Pressure grows on Ryanair

Norwegian Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen says he will demand that employees of Irish low-fare airline Ryanair who are based in Norway must pay taxes to Norway and not to Ireland. The demand comes just as Norway’s national pilots’ organization is demanding an audit of the airline, and as the national heart and lung association was [...]

Ryanair turbulence lands in Parliament

Ireland’s low-fare airline Ryanair faces more legal challenges in Norway, after two flight attendants announced they’re filing lawsuits over their working conditions and abrupt dismissals. Backed by Norwegian labour organization Parat, their complaints offer insight into how the airline treats those working for it and Parat firmly believes Ryanair has violated Norwegian law. Rival airline [...]

Overtime mediation averted strike

Norway’s labour federations LO and YS came to terms with national employers’ organization NHO at around 3am on Monday, after three hours of mediation in overtime that ultimately averted a major strike. Their agreement provides modest pay raises across the board, plus a special wage boost for lowest-paid union members. All parts involved claimed they [...]

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