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STRIKES

Will this year’s wage settlement negotiations lead to strikes in Norway?

As Norway braces for this year's wage settlement negotiations, a failure to reach a deal between unions and employers on increased pay might lead to another big strike.

Published: 20 February 2024 17:03 CET
Updated: 24 February 2024 07:41 CET
Strike
Last year's wage settlement saw a decisive strike within the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). Its success bolstered the confederation's resolve ahead of this year's negotiations. Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash

Collective bargaining agreements play a pivotal role in regulating salaries and other working conditions in the Norwegian labour market.

These agreements are the result of negotiations between trade unions and employer organisations, shaping the framework that governs employment terms and practices.

READ MORE: What is a Norwegian collective bargaining agreement?

Collective bargaining agreements in Norway are usually negotiated throughout the spring, and negotiations for some of the most prominent sectors regularly make the domestic headlines.

Before the negotiations, unions typically announce what they expect from the year’s talks. This year, employee organisations are focusing on increasing purchasing power and salaries.

Employee side demands

Years of grappling with inflation and rising interest rates have galvanised the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions’ (LO) million-strong membership into action.

On Tuesday, LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik emphasised the critical importance of a robust wage agreement.

With the Technical Calculation Committee (the government committee tasked with calculating wage and inflation rises) forecasting a 4.1 percent price hike for 2024 recently, surpassing this mark will be seen as essential for unions.

READ MORE: What foreign residents in Norway should know about workers’ unions

The demand put forth by LO for this year’s negotiations is that wage increases must outstrip the rise in prices, thereby ensuring a real improvement in purchasing power.

READ ALSO: Could a long period of stagnant real wages in Norway be about to end?

Furthermore, LO is asking for a wage supplement for the lowest earners and comprehensive reforms in continuing education to address structural inequalities within the Norwegian labour market.

Strike threats

Last year’s interim settlement saw LO take its members on strike. The strike was a success , a wage increase of 5.2 percent was secured, and has bolstered the confederation’s resolve ahead of this year’s negotiations.

On Tuesday, Følsvik declared that LO was ready to strike for a “good and solid” wage increase.

“We are prepared to go on strike to get what is fair, what is right,” she said, according to news bureau NTB.

“We must get our share of the cake. And a fair distribution. Because there is actually room for a good and solid wage settlement. Export revenues are historically high, and the industry is going through good times…

“Those who have helped create this value, LO members, must have their share of the value creation,” the LO chief further said.

After several years of historically high price growth and what Følsvik called a historically aggressive interest rate growth, the feedback from over 1 million LO members is clear.

“After years of high inflation and an increasingly tough interest rate level, increased wages are the most important thing for our members. The requirement is that wages must increase more than the rise in prices. The requirement is increased purchasing power. It will be our task not to disappoint our members,” Hessen Følsvik said.

Fellesforbundet: The will to strike is very strong

In Norway, traditionally, the bargaining round kicks off with the industrial sector, commonly known as the frontline sector (frontfaget) in this context. This sector leads negotiations initially because it’s exposed to competition.

The financial parameters established through negotiations between the LO’s United Federation of Trade Unions (Fellesforbundet) and NHO’s Federation of Norwegian Industries (Norsk Industri) during this settlement will serve as a blueprint for subsequent negotiations.

Fellesforbundet, the second-largest union within LO, is often called the primary trade union in the private sector. Its membership spans various industries, including manufacturing, construction, hospitality, and others.

Teaming up with Parat, part of the Norwegian Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS), Fellesforbundet will assume a crucial role in representing employees during the frontline sector negotiations.

There’s a tradition of minimal striking within frontline professions, as Fellesforbundet leader Jørn Eggum said in late January.

Nevertheless, last year saw an unprecedented strike during interim settlement talks, signalling a potential shift in dynamics.

When questioned about the willingness to strike this year, Eggum underscored the firm resolve among union members, saying that the will to strike is “absolutely present.”

“I think the will to strike is very strong,” Eggum told the newspaper E24.

How Norway’s collective bargaining system works

Pay and rights in Norway are governed by collective agreements (tariffavtaler), which typically have a duration of two years.

Every alternate year, employers and employees engage in renegotiations of the entire collective agreement, known as the main settlement (hovedoppgjøret).

READ ALSO: Why Norway doesn’t have a national minimum wage and how fair pay is ensured

In the periods between main collective settlements, bargaining primarily focuses on pay-related matters, called interim settlements (mellomoppgjør).

However, the 2024 bargaining round involves a main settlement, meaning negotiations will encompass not only pay but also other rights such as working hours, leave entitlements, and other provisions.

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WORKING IN NORWAY

Why overqualified foreigners in Norway struggle to find work

Norway is one of the worst countries in Europe when it comes to overqualified foreign labour being stuck in jobs that don’t make the best use of their skills, a new analysis has found. 

Published: 23 April 2024 11:38 CEST
Why overqualified foreigners in Norway struggle to find work

Norway is one of many European countries struggling with “brain waste”, which is where immigrants struggle to find suitable full-time work or are overqualified for their roles due to their education not being recognised. 

The findings are part of an investigation by Lighthouse Reports, the Financial Times, El País and Unbias The News that found that most European countries fail to provide good job opportunities to educated foreigners – potentially at the cost of their labour forces and economies. 

“While the results differ slightly between labour market outcomes, a consistent pattern emerges: immigrants lag behind natives everywhere, but brain waste is worst in Southern Europe, Norway, and Sweden,” the report read. 

Some of the metrics used to measure brain waste were the proportion of foreign residents who were overqualified for their role, underemployed (meaning they weren’t working as much as they could), or unemployed. 

In Norway, 27.6 percent of university-educated Norwegians were overqualified for their roles, according to the report. Meanwhile, just over half of the university-educated immigrant population were overqualified for their job. 

This figure made Norway one of the countries with the largest raw difference in the percentage of the native population being overqualified compared to the immigrant population. 

Furthermore, the number of immigrants who were underemployed, 3.9 percent, was more than double the rate of Norwegians in the same position. 

The investigation used figures from Eurostat between 2017 and 2022. 

Norway’s Directorate of Integration and Diversity has recently investigated the obstacles facing the country’s foreign population in the workplace. 

Its report found that immigrants faced barriers both when trying to progress their careers or simply trying to get their foot in the door. 

Immigrants working in Norway were also more likely to leave working life earlier or lose their jobs. 

READ ALSO: The biggest barriers foreigners in Norway face at work

Factors such as working in temp positions, physically taxing occupations, and industries exposed to economic turbulence contributed to this. 

However, a lack of Norwegian proficiency, a lack of relevant skills and poor health also played a part. 

Discrimination prevented immigrants from entering the workplace and affected those who were employed. 

“More and more people in the population have contact with immigrants in working life, and most experience that contact as mainly positive. At the same time, one in four immigrants has experienced discrimination in the workplace, and this discrimination can occur in different forms and in different working situations,” the report read.

The directorate also said that most companies didn’t have concrete measures to try and promote diversity.

One factor holding back immigrants in Norway was their Norwegian language skills, the report said. 

While Norwegian skills were moving in the right direction, less than half of foreigners in the country had advanced Norwegian language skills (level B2 according to the European framework) after completing language training.

Meanwhile, Lighthouse Reports’ investigation found that brain waste in Norway varied from profession to profession. For example, Norway was one of a number of countries where college-educated immigrants were more likely to be doctors. 

Immigrants with a university education in IT-related subjects were also far less likely to be overqualified. There, the difference between migrants being overqualified compared to natives was just 2 percent. 

However, physical and engineering science technicians, engineering professionals (excluding electrotechnology), and those who have studied education at a university level were the immigrant groups in Norway most likely to be overqualified. 

One thing to note is that immigrants who obtained their qualifications in Norway were far less likely to be overqualified than those who got their degrees outside of Norway, even if they still fared worse than natives overall. 

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