Security guards head out on strike

Norwegians were bracing for more disruption after negotiations broke down on Friday between employers group NHO Service and the union representing security guards around the country (Arbeidsmandsforbund, NAF). Security control at airports and cash supplies in minibanks are among services that will be affected. No sooner had one major strike ended did another begin. Some [...]

Municipal strike over, not at Opera

Norway’s biggest strike in more than 30 years ended on Wednesday, after a hectic and lengthy round of mediation. Nearly 50,000 local government workers all over the country could start returning to work, but striking singers and dancers still aren’t letting the curtain go up at Oslo’s Opera House. Municipal employers group KS said the [...]

Strikes spread, Opera hit also

UPDATED: Thousands of municipal workers remain on strike in Norway, and now some performers at the Norwegian Opera have walked off the job, too. Not many, but enough to cancel tonight’s performance and perhaps tomorrow’s ballet as well. Members of musicians’ union Musikernes Fellesorganisasjon (MFO) failed to reach agreement with employers’ organization Spekter during the [...]

45,000 now on strike nationwide

More schools and day care centers closed, nursing home staffing shrunk and local government services were further curtailed Wednesday morning, after Norway’s biggest strike in 30 years got bigger. Transport workers also claimed their strike would continue. Some unions have settled with public sector employers, but those representing municipal workers in most cities except Oslo [...]

Thousands more set to go on strike

Hospital workers settled a dispute with their state employers and headed back to work on Tuesday, but transport workers and around 17,000 local government employees around the country remained on strike. Another 26,000 may join them on Wednesday. Unions representing the municipal workers were threatening to expand their strike for higher pay and more funding [...]

Oslo stays out of big municipal strike

UPDATED: Norway has proven itself once again to be “annerledeslandet:” Europe’s “different country,” often going its own way. At a time when most European countries are cutting public sector salaries, laying off workers and slashing budgets, several Norwegian unions turned down a pay offer that was higher than the inflation rate and launched the country’s [...]

18,000 workers head out on strike

Mediation broke down Thursday afternoon between municipal employers and unions representing their workers, meaning that many schools and day care centers will shut down around Norway from Friday. The strikers were joined later by nearly 1,000 hospital workers even though state officials came to terms with unions earlier in the day. Negotiations in Oslo were [...]

Major strike looms in public sector

Schools and day care centers may close, and nursing homes and a variety of other public services will be affected, if Norway’s biggest public sector unions opt to pull their members off the job on Thursday in the latest battle over equal pay. Norway is arguably among the countries in the world that has come [...]

Transport and cleaning strikes spread

There’s likely to be fewer goods on retailers’ shelves, far fewer deliveries of all kinds, and dirtier offices and public areas in Norway this week. Strikes in both the transport and cleaning branches were spreading on Tuesday with no settlements in sight. A strike by workers at various cargo terminals around Norway started last weekend, [...]

Building branch goes back to work

A strike by construction workers ended over the weekend, with both sides saying they hope to build up more cooperation between union members and their employers. All claimed they were “reasonably satisfied” with their wage and benefit settlement. The strike had shut down hundreds of construction projects all over the country and pulled around 19,000 [...]

Strike caught most by surprise

Activity ceased at construction sites all over Norway on Wednesday, after 19,000 workers in the building trades were called out on strike. The strike comes just as the construction industry was hoping to recover from the finance crisis, and even workers themselves seemed caught off guard. “Why we’re striking? I don’t know,” one union member, [...]

Construction workers go on strike

Around 19,000 construction workers were called out on strike early Tuesday, after negotiations broke down between their union and the Norwegian building trades employers’ organization. The strike affects around 800 companies. It also was shutting down construction projects all over the country. The strike caught even some workers by surprise, with one telling Norwegian Broadcasting [...]

Major strike averted

A major strike that could have pulled thousands of workers off the job at industrial companies all over Norway was averted on Sunday, after hours of extended mediation. Details of the settlement between Norway’s largest trade union in the private sector, Fellesforbundet, and employers’ organization Norsk Industri were sketchy but involved modest pay raises for [...]

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