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Norway municipal sector strike ends

A far-reaching strike that has hit public services across Norway for the past 12 days ended on Tuesday night as unions and employers agreed on a new wage deal for municipal employees.

Norway municipal sector strike ends
Mediator Reidun Wallevik announces the strike is over. Behind her: union representatives Jan Davidsen, Fagforbundet, and Mimi Bjerkestrand, Unio (Photo: Terje Bendiksby/Scanpix)

In a deal that mirrored an agreement for state sector workers, municipal employees will receive a pay hike amounting to a total of 4.07 percent.

Four trade unions – LO Kommune, Unio, YS Kommune and Akademikerne – negotiated the deal that will give employees a general raise of 2.7 percent, or at least 12,000 kroner, a figure supplemented by higher holiday pay, as well further increases to be negotiated at the local level.   

The deal was at the ”outer limit” of what municipal employers could afford, according to Sigrun Vågeng, administrative director of municipal sector group KS.

”First and foremost though we are pleased that the conflict is over and citizens can again get access to the services they need,” she told news agency NTB after the deal was struck at 10pm on Tuesday.  

Unio’s chief negotiator Mimi Bjerkestrand took the opportunity to thank those who had gone out on strike. The industrial action had enabled labour groups to reach a deal they could recommend to their members, she said.

According to Unio, its members would see wages grow by around 20,000 kroner, a figure that would rise further after local additions.

”Society will derive benefits from the fact that it will now become easier to recruit nurses, pre-school teachers, teachers and other core groups in the municipal sector,” said Bjerkestrand.

Meanwhile, striking Oslo city employees also went back to work on Wednesday morning after labour unions signed off on a separate framework wage deal at 6am.

Some 1,300 municipal workers from five trade unions were set to return to their jobs after the city agreed to pay all city employees at least an extra 10,750 kroner. Some employees could see their annual wage packet swell still further depending on the outcome of local wage talks.

”The Oslo strike was important in that it ensured that Oslo city employees keep pace with the private sector this year and beyond,” said Martin Moen, a negotiator for the YS union.

One visible effect of the end of the strike was the return to work on Wednesday morning of rubbish collectors, who were to set about disposing of the garbage that has piled up since the start of the strike.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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