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STRIKES

Travellers face queues at Norway’s border control as public sector strike rolls on

While the government halted the strike in the national security sector over the weekend, the broader public sector strike – affecting police, air travel, and higher education – intensified on Monday.

Published: 3 June 2024 11:02 CEST
Airport
Travellers at major Norwegian airport should anticipate significant delays at border control due to a reduction in staff affecting border control. Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

Starting Monday, travellers at Oslo Airport should anticipate significant delays at border control due to a substantial reduction in staff affecting border control.

According to the Eastern Police District, both arriving and departing passengers should prepare for wait times of up to 2-3 hours.

READ MORE: Why Norway’s public sector strike is likely to drag on

Travellers leaving the Schengen area are advised to arrive well in advance.

A similar situation could also unfold at Bergen Airport Flesland, according to local newspaper Bergens Tidende (BT).

Strike escalation

The public sector strike in Norway intensified on Monday.

An additional 1,736 Confederation of Unions for Professionals (Unio) union members joined, bringing the total on the Unio side to 3,300 strikers.

This escalation will heavily impact police services, air travel, and higher education across Norway.

Nearly 300 university employees in Oslo and Akershus are on strike, causing multiple exam postponements at the University of Oslo (UiO), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), and Oslo Met, according to the newspaper Khrono.

National security sector strike halted by Labour Minister Brenna

Norway’s Labour Minister Tonje Brenna has halted the strike in the national security sector by the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne) due to national security concerns.

The National Security Authority (NSM) warned that it could not maintain essential services if the strike continued.

“Given the serious situation reported by the NSM, I have no other choice but to stop the strike,” Brenna said.

The Akademikerne union, which had planned extensive strikes affecting over half of the NSM’s workforce, is now barred from continuing the action.

Before the Labour Minister intervened to halt the national security sector strike, Akademikerne was expected to have over 2,250 additional strikers on Monday. However, following Minister Brenna’s decision, the exact number is now uncertain.

How (and why) the strike started

The public sector strike occurred because unionised workers failed to agree on a collective bargaining deal with the state.

This year’s talks concern the entire collective bargaining agreement, not just wages. Four unions have been locked in talks with the government.

READ MORE: How Norway’s public sector strike will affect you

The branch of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), which represents state employees, and the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) managed to agree on a deal with the state.

However, the talks between the state, the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations and the Confederation of Unions for Professionals broke down.

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STRIKES

Fresh strike threat could ground flights from Norway

Aircraft technicians in Norway working for SAS, Norwegian, and Widerøe could strike, causing disruption for air traffic at the start of the summer holidays if mediation talks fail.

Published: 17 June 2024 12:50 CEST
Fresh strike threat could ground flights from Norway

Beginning later this week, the union representing aircraft technicians at SAS, Norwegian, and Widerøe (Norsk Flyteknikerorganisasjonand) and the branch of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) responsible for the aviation industry, will have mediation talks on a collective bargaining agreement.

If an agreement isn’t agreed, 30 aircraft technicians will be taken out on strike – with more workers being taken out until an agreement is reached.

“The will to strike is great. If it is not resolved quickly, it is natural to register more,” Jan Skogseth, head of the union, told travel news publication Flysmart 24.

The strike could begin at midnight on Friday, disrupting air travel at the start of the school holidays in Norway. The strike could take aircraft out of rotation as there will be less staff to carry out essential maintenance on planes.

“The number of workers being taken out may sound low, but considering that there is already a shortage of aircraft technicians, a tight summer program at the same time as the holidays, it can quickly have a big impact when we have around 480 aircraft technicians in Norway in total,” Skogseth said.

However, he said that the strike would not affect flights that are critical to life and health. In 2022, the Norwegian government ordered an aircraft technician strike to an end after a strike escalation threatened to ground air ambulances.

When the Norwegian government orders a strike to end, a state body decides the outcome of the collective bargaining agreement and terms, such as wages.

Norway has seen several potential strikes averted in recent weeks. Both a pilot’s strike that would have affected Norwegian and an Avinor staff strike was resolved during mediation or mediation overtime.

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