Norway faces a strike starting Sunday by about 23,000 union members if there’s no agreement on pay with employers.
(Bloomberg) — Norway faces a strike starting Sunday by about 23,000 union members if there’s no agreement on pay with employers.
Talks in this year’s collective-bargaining round in the Nordic nation were deadlocked last month after demands for an increase in wages that have declined for two years, adjusted for inflation.
The parties will try to reach a deal covering the salaries of about 185,000 workers with the help of a state mediator in two days of talks that begin Friday.
If no deal is struck, the unions are prepared to strike “in a wide range of industries across large parts of the country,” the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions said Tuesday in a statement. “We see that many companies are doing very well and profits are high,” LO’s leader Peggy Hessen Folsvik was cited as saying.
The warning comes as Norway struggles to cool inflation that remains near a three decade-high. The Technical Calculation Committee for Wage Settlement — which provides the economic forecasts for labor talks — last month raised its forecast for 2023 price growth to 4.9%, citing a weak krone and higher food and energy costs.
Read More: Norway Inflation Quicker Than Expected, Backing Rate Outlook
Last year’s wage accord set a pay boost of 3.7%. The government has forecast an increase of 4.2% for 2023.
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