More pension turbulence looms

Norwegian airline Widerøe was flying again on Monday after striking flight attendants won the right to negotiate some of their pension terms and went back to work. The pension victory was encouraging other unions to demand the same, meaning that more labour turbulence lies ahead, and not just for airlines. Widerøe’s management and representatives for [...]

Protests rise over poorer pensions

NEWS ANALYSIS: The Norwegian government’s pension reforms caused confusion and some controversy when they were first introduced more than a decade ago. Only now, it seems, are Norwegians starting to realize how the reforms will affect and mostly cut their future pension payments, and the protests are rolling in. Not only do the vast majority [...]

Oil fund invests in more real estate

Norway’s bulging sovereign wealth fund, more popularly known as the “oil fund,” announced more purchases in the international real estate market last week. After spending around NOK 6 billion (USD 1 billion) in Germany, the fund still has its sights set on the US next year. The fund paid NOK 5.8 billion (EUR 784 million) [...]

Nursing home strike drags on

A strike by health care workers at privately run nursing homes wrapped up its first week on Wednesday with no sign of settlement in sight. The workers are demanding the same pension benefits paid to health care staff at commercially-run nursing homes. Negotiations between their labour organization, Fagforbundet, and NHO Service, representing their employers, broke [...]

Mediation failed to settle oil strike

A strike by oil service workers in the North Sea entered its 12th day on Thursday, after attempts at mediation failed Wednesday evening. The strike has shut down several Norwegian oil rigs and reportedly is costing Statoil alone more than NOK 100 million a day. A national mediator called the three labour organizations representing the [...]

Mediator tries to end oil service strike

A national mediator has called in those involved in a strike that’s disrupted or halted production at several oil platforms in the North Sea since late last month. Representatives for around 700 striking members of three labour organizations and their employers were set to start talking again Wednesday afternoon. The striking workers are most upset [...]

New strike shuts Norwegian oil rigs

Around 700 North Sea oil rig workers went on strike Sunday, demanding early and full retirement benefits from the age of 62. The strike was shutting down production at various rigs on the Norwegian continental shelf and can cost the state billions in lost oil revenues if it drags on. Both the employers’ organization NHO [...]

New talks resume in local strikes

There was a new glimmer of hope on Tuesday that municipal employers and their striking employees might start resolving their differences. All parts in the ongoing conflict at the township level agreed to start talking again with a national mediator, even though admittedly stubborn union leaders put up a hard line and other strikes dragged [...]

Statoil workers yell at the boss

It was an online opportunity to communicate with the boss, and Statoil employees reportedly quickly made use of it when the company’s chief executive Helge Lund launched an internal company blog. It didn’t take long before he was bombarded by frustrated staffers. “Mr Helge Lund. You are out of touch! … As Donald Trump would [...]

Ex-politician cleared of fraud

Norway’s Supreme Court has acquitted a longtime Member of Parliament for the Center Party (Sp), Magnus Stangeland, of charges he knowingly received more pension income than that to which he was entitled. Stangeland and another policitican, Anders Talleraas of the Conservative Party, had earlier been sentenced to prison. The two former MPs were among six [...]

Norway’s oil fund now world’s biggest

Norway’s “Government Pension Fund – Global,” commonly referred to in the country as the “oil fund,” has overtaken the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) as the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, according to the Monitor Group, with nearly NOK 3,100 billion (roughly USD 570 billion) in the fund today. The news came just a day [...]

Former politicians sentenced to jail

UPDATED: An Oslo court sentenced two retired members of the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) to jail on Friday, after they were found guilty on charges of pension fraud. The charges themselves had severely shaken Norwegian legislators, who long have enjoyed generous pensions that may intentionally have been subject to vague rules. It was the state auditor [...]

Pension fraud suspects face prison

A state prosecutor asked a court in Oslo to jail two retired politicians, one for six months and the other for 60 days, claiming she’d proven that they illegally and knowingly collected pension payments that were too high. The relatively strict jail term demand came as a surprise, not least since a string of high-profile [...]

MPs’ pension rules ‘unclear’

UPDATED: Former prime ministers Gro Harlem Brundtland and Kåre Willoch are the latest in a string of top politicians called in to testify in a lawsuit over pension payouts to retired Members of Parliament. Two former MPs have been accused of accepting payments that were too high, and Brundtland may have strengthened their defense. On [...]

Former MPs deny pension fraud

Two former Members of Parliament pleaded “not guilty” in an Oslo court on Tuesday when their trial for alleged pension fraud began. Four former prime ministers and a long list of top politicians will be among those testifying as the trial proceeds. It’s a landmark court case for Norway, involving the highest levels of government [...]

Next Page »