News
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The posting of workers directive: EU Commission sticks to its guns
Should posted workers have the right to the same wages as workers in the country to which they are posted? Yes, says the European Commission, sticking to its proposal for changes to the posting of workers directive, despite fierce resistance from Eastern European member states.
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How do you integrate last year’s refugees into the labour market?
Refugees represent a different type of group compared to labour immigrants. The integrating of last year’s record number of refugees to the Nordic region will therefore probably take longer than for labour immigrants. There is also a risk that labour market integration runs into problems after five to ten years, warned researches at a Nordic…
6 minutes
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Social Democrats nearly wiped out in Iceland’s election
The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) was the great looser in Iceland’s parliamentary elections, together with the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn). The Social Democratic Alliance was nearly wiped out, retaining only three MPs. The President has now invited the leader of the Independence Party to form a government.
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Åland’s Britt Lundberg and Norway’s Erna Solberg sharpen Nordic cooperation in 2017
Removing border obstacles in the Nordic region is one of my priorities, proclaimed Britt Lundberg from Åland when she was elected the 2017 President of the Nordic Council during the Council’s Copenhagen session on 3 November. Border obstacles remain a core task for Nordic cooperation. The Norwegian Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers will…
4 minutes
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The Nordic Council wants to simplify border obstacles
The refugee crisis engaged the participants at the Nordic Council’s session in Copenhagen. Border controls introduced one year ago between Sweden and Denmark run contrary to the open Nordic labour market. A joint Nordic control at the border between Germany and Denmark is one suggested solution for easing the problems faced by Öresund commuters.
3 minutes
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Jari Lindström must answer for labour, equality and migration at the Nordic Council of Ministers
“Refreshing! Interesting!,” says Finland’s Minister Justice and Employment Jari Lindström. During the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers he is the one who answers the Nordic parliamentarians on the Council on labour issues.
4 minutes
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Martti Ahtisaari: Who would vote for the Social Democrats – hijacked by the trade unions?
This is the book which has created an uproar among Finnish trade unions. The former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari distances himself from both the trade union movement and his former political party SDP (the Social Democratic Party). Who would vote for them? he asks. Because they are ruining the welfare state…
5 minutes
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Why are suicide rates higher for farmers and firefighters than for librarians?
The largest survey of suicide rates by occupational group shows suicide is ten times more common among farmers than among librarians. For women, the highest rates are found among emergency workers, like firefighters.
5 minutes
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Where gender equality fits into the ILO’s future of work
How do you close the pay gap and create a less gender-divided labour market? The answer does not lie in the past. Gender divisions in the Nordic labour markets have been nearly static since the 1970s and global data from the ILO shows shockingly little movement. So what is needed? That is what the discussion…
8 minutes
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ILO: The future labour market in dire straits, time for action
There is trouble ahead for the future labour market: global growth is falling, jobs are disappearing, employment contracts are changing, inequality is on the rise and the middle classes are no longer growing. But not everything points in a negative direction, and according to Finland’s Minister of Justice and Employment we can influence developments.
11 minutes