On 20 June 2001, Abelia [1] was founded as Norway's first employers' association for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The new association is a member organisation of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) and initially
At extraordinary national congresses held in June 2001, the Norwegian Union of Teachers (Norsk Lærerlag, NL) and the Teachers' Union Norway (Lærerforbundet) gave their final approval to a merger, creating a single new teachers' union (NO9904127N [1]). A joint steering committee has been given a
On 21 May 2001, the Scandinavian airline company, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), made a takeover bid for its troubled main competitor in Norway, Braathen Safe. Braathen Safe and SAS have been the principal actors and competitors in Norwegian domestic aviation for over half a century, and with
On 26 April 2001, the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) approved the proposed privatisation of the state-owned oil company, Statoil, and of the "state's direct financial interest in petroleum operations" (Statens direkte økonomiske engasjement, SDØE) (NO9909151N [1]). The minority Labour Party (Det
New figures made public by the Technical Calculating Committee on Wage Settlements (Teknisk beregningsutvalg, TBU) on 29 March 2001 show that management salaries continue to rise, despite calls for moderation from most quarters of Norwegian working life. The principle of wage moderation is an
In a significant court case concerning working time and attendance rules, the Norwegian Supreme Court (Høyesterett) ruled on 21 March 2001 that the working day begins when employees start working, and not when they enter the main gates of the company's premises. The case involved the Norwegian state
There was a slight recovery in the Norwegian economy in 2000, according to the report of the Technical Calculating Committee on Wage Settlements (Teknisk beregningsutvalg for inntektsoppgjørene, TBU), made public on 28 March 2001. However, although high oil prices contributed to a record balance of
On 26 February 2001, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented its annual economic survey [1] of the Norwegian economy. The report confirms that the Norwegian economy is still doing extraordinarily well, but suggests that Norway still is struggling to produce a sound
The Director of the Norwegian Labour Market Administration (Aetat), Ted Hanisch, resigned in October 2000 after it was revealed that the organisation had for a long period provided false and exaggerated figures concerning the number of people it had helped to find jobs. An external audit showed that
On 18 January 2000, the Minister of Health, Tore Tønne, presented a government proposal for a public health sector reform. The reform involves a transfer of the ownership of all public hospitals from the county authorities to the state, and a complete financial and organisational restructuring of