Norway’s largest trade union confederation, LO, went along with an overall agreement that will yield wage growth of 4.4 percent this year. The deal was hammered out in mediation just before a strike deadline loomed on Tuesday.
Both LO and its counterpart, the national employers’ organization NHO, appeared pleased with the deal that prevented another major strike in Norway. The wage pact is also likely to ward off others during the collective bargaining season this spring. It came despite recent indicators that inflation had started rising again, at a rate of 4.7 percent.
There had been earlier demands that wages should rise at a rate higher than inflation in order to achieve “real” pay growth. Several bank economists, though, had warned that such a settlement could have instead contributed to even higher inflation, which is something neither labour- nor business leaders wanted.
“It’s a good wage settlement and I’m glad we managed to agree on it so quickly,” said the outgoing leader of LO, Peggy Hessen Følsvik. It was the last time Følsvik, age 64, will be leading labour negotiations after deciding to step down from her top post at LO later this year.
“We were talking kroner and øre,” added Følsvik, referring to the Norwegian currency involved, “and we weren’t so pre-occupied with a set framework.” The agreement provides set amounts pay increases at a national level and is expected to also allow for more flexible wage agreements at the local level.
NHO leader Ole Erik Almlid was also satisfied, especially given all the strikes in recent years. “We are very relieved that we avoided a major strike this year,” Almlid said after a few days of mediation ended before the strike deadline. Avoiding a strike, he said, “was the motivation for all of us.”
Talks had broken down two weeks ago, and headed into mediation late last week. State mediator Mats Ruland, however, claimed that he played a minor role in the settlement. “I would like to thank all involved for constructive work,” Ruland said Monday night. “It was really just those involved who negotiated the settlement,” he added, indicating that he and his staff were mostly just standing by.
Other labour organizations are now expected to go along with the pact between LO and NHO, with the YS federation leader Hans-Erik Skjæggerud saying he could understand the thinking behind the LO-NHO settlement: “We would gladly have ended up with a bit more,” he told state broadcaster NRK, “but realize that employers would gladly also have ended up giving a bit less.”
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
