In August 2006, it emerged that the demands of the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations and the Finance Sector Union would not receive the backing of the National Wages Board. These demands, which concerned wages and occupational pension schemes, had resulted in strike action during the wage negotiations in the spring of 2006. Both conflicts were halted by means of compulsory arbitration and were left to be resolved by the National Wages Board.
Background
In August 2006, the National Wages Board (Rikslønnsnemnda) made a ruling (in Norwegian) in relation to two industrial disputes involving financial sector employees and academic groups in the public sector concerning the 2006 wage settlements. Both disputes culminated in compulsory arbitration, imposed by the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget), and in effect it was left to the National Wages Board to decide on a result in the negotiations. The board consists of three neutral representatives, one or two representatives from the parties concerned, as well as one permanent representative from both the employer and employee sides.
It is a long established practice for the National Wages Board not to make changes to principal provisions of collective agreements. This conservative role of the National Wages Board tends to favour the employer side in Norwegian collective bargaining – a trend that was confirmed by this year’s rulings. As such, the rulings did not come as a surprise, although the trade unions concerned have expressed their disappointment with the result.
Agreement for academic professionals
The Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne), representing public sector employees, demanded wage increases in this year’s wage settlement with a view to narrowing the wage gap between professional employees in the public and private sectors. Moreover, Akademikerne demanded, on behalf of its public sector members, that all pay rises be awarded as individual increases at company level. However, the other main confederations in Norway’s publicsector – the Confederation of Vocational Unions (Yrkesorganisasjonenes Landsforening, YS), the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) and the Confederation of Unions for Professionals (Hovedorganisasjonen for universitets- og høyskoleutdannede, UNIO) – affirmed their support for a combination of central-level and company-level wage increases. The implication of this was that the agreement envisioned by Akademikerne would deviate significantly from the other centrally-agreed public sector agreements. In general, the organisational competition between different unions is strong in the public sector, and all four confederations represent employees with higher-level education.
Negotiations ended in strike action by members of Akademikerne, while an agreement was reached between the government and the other three main confederations (NO0606029I). The strike was halted by means of compulsory arbitration, leaving the bargaining outcome up to the decision of the National Wages Board. In August 2006, the board presented Akademikerne with the same agreement accepted by the other three main confederations in June 2006. The board justified its decision on the basis that it would be undesirable to have different wage systems for public sector employees determined by their organisational affiliation, thus effectively establishing competing agreements for such employees. Therefore, Akademikerne did not receive support for its demand for a more decentralised wage bargaining system for its members. Procedural ambiguities in the latter stages of mediation played a part in the board’s decision to award increases for members of Akademikerne from the same date as the other employees, and not from the time at which the strike action ceased (which is common practice).
In response, Akademikerne has criticised the government’s behaviour during the negotiations in the public sector, asserting that member unions of LO are given preference at the expense of unions in the other main confederations.
Agreement for financial sector employees
In the financial sector, strike action at the beginning of June 2006 was triggered by the Finance Sector Union’s (Finansforbundet) demand for greater influence over pension and insurance schemes. Employees within this sector have traditionally benefited from relatively favourable occupational pension schemes; however, the union fears that developments may emerge among employers whereby existing schemes are replaced by schemes that are less beneficial for employees. The union thus demanded the right to bargain over existing schemes, along with the establishment of an arbitration board with responsibility for making the final decision in situations where the social partners at company level fail to reach agreement (NO0606049I). The employers rejected the demand on the grounds that it contravened current managerial privileges. The National Wages Board supported the employers by not making any amendments to the existing collective agreement.
Kristine Nergaard, Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science