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No Norwegian agreement over doctors’ terms as strike awaits

Union and employer representatives have broken off talks over a new collective bargaining agreement for doctors’ work terms.

Published: 16 October 2020 17:14 CEST

No Norwegian agreement over doctors’ terms as strike awaits

Illustration photo. Christopher Boswell on Unsplash

Talks between the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) and the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) have failed to reach an agreement, and broke off negotiations prior to the deadline of midnight Thursday.

The breakdown may affect municipal on-call or emergency services throughout the country in the coming weeks.

The doctors’ union said in a statement on its website that it was planning for a strike to take place from October 26th.

Negotiations between the two sides previously broke down in September, with provisions over on-call working hours a key stumbling block.

The medical association believes that the workload for GPs is too great given that on-call services are added to normal working hours, and with doctors unable to set any limits for how many shifts can be imposed.

READ ALSO: Norway faces possible doctors' strike as deadline looms for deal

“On-call doctors have imposed upon them an unjustifiable workload that weakens recruitment to both the GP programme and the outpatient clinic. That KS rejects solutions that ensure liveable working hours is (a) serious (problem),” NMA president Marit Hermansen said in a statement.

KS’ position is that Norway’s system for providing on-call medics is based on GPs taking the shifts, and that the system would therefore be put in jeopardy if the doctors themselves were to be able to decide on the limit of their on-call hours.

Minister of Health Bent Høie said that he is not a party to the conflict but expressed concern over the situation.

“I am following the situation and am worried if it ends with a strike. In such case, the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (Helsetilsynet) has the task of assessing whether a strike may pose a risk to life and health,” Høie said to NRK.

“But strikes are a legal method, including for health professionals,” the minister added.

In its statement on the potential strike, KS notes that the parties remain obliged “to negotiate as soon as possible to exempt from strike persons or groups that are necessary so as not to unduly harm the interests of third parties”.

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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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