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Social Partners

Articles on the Social Partners.

SAS agreement will lead to wage squeeze in other companies

Employers will be inspired by the SAS management to make savings on salaries, predicts labour market researcher Flemming Ibsen, who calls SAS’ ultimatum to trade unions “un-Nordic” and “incredibly brutal”.

SAS agreement will lead to wage squeeze in other companies - Read More…

Finnish pilots spot three mistakes

Pilot fatigue has been one of this year’s big talking points. Not because of an increase in accidents, but in order to tighten rules on rest and flight periods. It has been a hot debate.

Finnish pilots spot three mistakes - Read More…

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson: I believe the future is Nordic

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson: I believe the future is Nordic

As the EU focuses intensively on the Euro and other economic problems, it has never been more important to intensify Nordic cooperation says the new President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson.

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson: I believe the future is Nordic - Read More…

Unemployment benefit cuts undermine the Danish model

Danish trade unions warn cuts to unemployment benefits are undermining the Danish labour market model.

Unemployment benefit cuts undermine the Danish model - Read More…

Editorial: Nordic ministers’ fruitful Svalbard meeting

Norway’s Minister of Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm wanted to celebrate Nordic cooperation and invited her colleagues to Svalbard.

Editorial: Nordic ministers’ fruitful Svalbard meeting - Read More…

Kristin Skogen Lund: NHO's new Director General getting down to business

Kristin Skogen Lund: NHO's new Director General getting down to business

The wind in Kristin Skogen Lund’s sails has increased lately. As President of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) and a Telenor Group Director she has topped the list of Norway’s most powerful women two years in a row. Each time another top job has become available she has been touted as a possible candidate. But now that has ended: from 1 November Kristin Skogen Lund is the NHO’s Director General.

Kristin Skogen Lund: NHO's new Director General getting down to business - Read More…

Unions in retreat across Europe

Trade unions have lost members and influence over the past 20 years in almost all European countries. High unemployment, an increasingly deregulated labour market and weaker safety nets makes many workers weary of putting their demands forwards and to become union members. Unions in several countries also criticise what they see as a relatively self-congratulatory Nordic model.

Unions in retreat across Europe - Read More…

Nordic opposition to minimum wage shows lack of solidarity?

Should we have a statutory minimum wage? Absolutely not say Nordic trade unions, and they’re usually backed by employers’ organisations. It’s an attitude people elsewhere in Europe find difficult to understand.

Nordic opposition to minimum wage shows lack of solidarity? - Read More…

Nordic ministers want a more open working life

Nordic ministers want a more open working life

How do you open up the labour market for more people with disabilities? It is a hot topic. Despite crisis and unemployment taking hold, labour ministers keep their strategic focus on mobilising more people to join working life. They highlight the long-term need for labour and that all have the right to be fully part of working and social life. The challenge is to get working life partners to back their initiatives.

Nordic ministers want a more open working life - Read More…

Loa Brynjulfsdottir wants to defend the collective agreement model

Loa Brynjulfsdottir wants to defend the collective agreement model

Loa Brynjulfsdottir is the new general secretary at the Council of Nordic Trade Unions, NFS. Her top priority is to further defend the Nordic collective agreement model. It is under pressure from the more regulations-based way in which labour market issues are dealt with within the EU.

Loa Brynjulfsdottir wants to defend the collective agreement model - Read More…

British unions on the warpath

British unions on the warpath

"This is just the beginning," said union leader Len McCluskey when nearly two million public sector workers joined the UK's largest strike in 30 years. On 30 November schools, hospitals, docks and airports were hit.

British unions on the warpath - Read More…

Trade unions and a new spirit of the times

Trade unions and a new spirit of the times

Inspired by the Arab spring, protesters have been occupying streets and squares in the USA and in Europe. They have highlighted the big gap between the richest one percent and everybody else, even in Western countries. The Nordic region enjoys long traditions of cooperation on how social and working life should develop. But Nordic trade unions are loosing supporters. This could threaten their legitimacy and shift the balance which the Nordic model is based on.

Trade unions and a new spirit of the times - Read More…

Getting closer to members could secure union survival

Nordic trade unions must get closer to their members and provide a better service at a lower price. If not the Nordic labour market model will die, warn labour market experts.

Getting closer to members could secure union survival - Read More…

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions

From 2007 to 2011 Swedish trade unions lost 273,000 members. Worst hit was the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the lowest numbers of union membership was found among young people and people of foreign heritage. But unions are not passively watching the fall in membership numbers - on the contrary, they are mobilising to reach old and new members.

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions - Read More…

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?

Over the past decade the number of working days lost due to labour conflicts has been very low. Illegal industrial action has nearly disappeared altogether. Meanwhile the pay gap has widened considerably. But now there is fresh disquiet. How do unions deal with these new times?

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps? - Read More…

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation

Cooperation with the social partners is central when politicians in Norway and Denmark sit down to write new political programmes - be it Denmark’s new government programme or the programme for Norway’s 2012 presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation - Read More…

Collective bargaining under pressure as union membership plummets

Danes - especially young men - abandon trade unions with record speed new figures show. Experts believe it can undermine the social partners’ self regulation - the so-called flexicurity model.

Collective bargaining under pressure as union membership plummets - Read More…

New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities

New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities

Organisations for people with disabilities along with the social partners didn’t hold back their praise when Norway’s Minister for Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm and Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken presented their ‘Job strategy for people with impaired work ability‘ during the presentation of Norway’s 2012 budget on 6 October.

New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities - Read More…

Finland hunts for a new salary model

Finland’s social partners are desperately looking for a new negotiation model. Or rather: the trade unions are trying their hardest to convince employers that a 40 year old labour market institution is still relevant.

Finland hunts for a new salary model - Read More…

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Social Partners in Scandinavian

Danish: arbejdsmarkedets parter

Norwegian: arbeidsmarkedets parter

Swedish: arbetsmarknadens parter

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