News
-
Everybody wants to know about refugees’ skills
While the Nordic countries tightened border controls and made it harder for refugees to seek asylum, they also changed their policies to help refugees get quicker access to the labour market. In Norway the asylum seekers can now register their skills by themselves.
3 minutes
-
Swedish port conflict could lead to change in legislation
A long-running conflict in the port of Gothenburg has made the Swedish government consider changes in regulations covering industrial action. The reason the conflict has lasted for so long is a seemingly unsolvable fight for positions between two trade unions which both represent dockworkers.
4 minutes -
The platform economy: How to regulate working life when algorithms are the boss?
Regulation is a key word when the Nordic countries discuss the platform economy. The challenge is to secure good working conditions for the individual, a level playing field for businesses and tax revenues for the state.
11 minutes
-
Denmark’s second largest city explores the sharing economy
Citizens of Aarhus municipality can move around in shared electric cars and cultivate the soil in new city gardens on municipal land. The government has designated the municipality as a pilot city for the sharing economy, and a range of activities are already up and running.
3 minutes
-
Nordics and Baltics agree on digital development
Big numbers were presented during the Digital North conference in Oslo on 25 April, where digitalisation ministers from the Nordic and Baltic countries signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement. Digitalisation can create 500,000 new jobs in Europe, and the new 5G networks which are already being rolled out in the Nordic region are 100,000 faster that…
4 minutes
-
Micro-management a threat to Nordic labour market models
There is a need for an institutionalised exchange of ideas between the Nordic countries on labour market issues, believes Oxford Research, which has compared labour market politics in the Nordic countries. They also encourage politicians to avoid micro-management and to trust those who work with these issues.
5 minutes -
Robotisation and Mercedes bring a thousand new jobs to Finland
Suddenly Finland is about to become known as a car making nation. There is already talk about “the west coast miracle”. Valmet Automotive is recruiting one thousand new car workers in addition to the ones they already employ. More and more Mercedes models are being ordered from their Uusikaupunki car plant, which is growing at…
4 minutes
-
International campaign needed to fight ruthless staffing agencies
Two new international agreements trying to improve conditions for workers in the construction and textile industries, as well as oil workers’ more traditional but still difficult trade union fight. Those were the issues up for debate during a Fafo seminar in Oslo on globalisation, precarious work and trust.
5 minutes
-
NIVA Education introduces online courses
NIVA Education has started offering online courses in various topics to do with working environments and safety. “The best thing about these courses is that I can go back and listen to a lecture again and again. You always notice something new,” says Ásta Snorradóttir, is a lecturer in occupational rehabilitation at the at the…
3 minutes -
Lex Laval revised in Sweden – to what effect?
Swedish trade unions will again be able to take industrial action in order to get foreign companies to sign collective agreements for their posted workers. That is what the Swedish government proposes, arguing the limitations introduced through the so-called lex Laval go too far. In practice the difference might not be quite as dramatic as…
3 minutes