Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees conference focuses on privatisation

The largest trade union in Norway, the Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees, held its national conference in October 1998. The central issue of the conference was the unions' strategy to halt the privatisation of municipal sector enterprises and the introduction of competitive tendering.

The Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees (Norsk Kommuneforbund, NKF), the largest trade union in Norway and an affiliate of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO), held its national conference from 11-16 October 1998. NKF has approximately 240,000 members, of whom 160,000 are in employment. The union organises mainly municipal sector employees, and a majority of these are women. Although the union in principle covers all types of municipal employees, the majority of its members are employees without a higher education qualification.

The leader of NKF, Jan Davidsen, was re-elected by an unanimous vote, as were the two deputy leaders. The new union board includes 10 women and 11 men.

The central issue during the conference was NKF's choice of strategy in relation to privatisation. The union's leader underlined in his introductory speech that the battle against competitive tendering and privatisation will become central to the union's agenda in the immediate future. NKF will invite other unions in the municipal sector, regardless of the confederation to which they are affiliated, to create a joint alliance against privatisation. According to NKF, the unions representing nurses, auxiliary nurses and primary school teachers may constitute important alliance partners in this campaign. An additional proposal was put forward to establish a joint information office on the issue of privatisation and competitive tendering.

Changes to the structure of NKF were not an issue during the conference, and neither was the forthcoming discussion on possible cooperation with the Norwegian Union of Practical Nurses (Norsk Helse- og Sosialforbund, NHSF) (NO9809185F).

It was also decided that non-working members (pensioners) could pay a reduced membership fee to cover home insurance. Home insurance has been an intrinsic part of membership in almost all LO unions. At present, many LO unions provide free membership, and thereby free insurance, for retired members. The decision reflects the fact that the provision of free insurance for non-working members contributes an increasing share of many LO-affiliated unions' expenses.