Postal workers brace for long strike
Norway’s mail service can be hard hit by industrial action after 20,000 postal workers were offered an overall wage reduction during this year’s salary negotiations.
Talks broke down a week and a half ago and in all probability a massive walkout will take place on Tuesday, May 14. The mood among postal workers is palpably tense. After a year of restructuring, layoffs and shutdowns, employees are in no mood to accept a wage cut. Negotiations are now the responsibility of the state arbitrator and a solution has to be in by midnight May 13.
“The offer from Norway Post is miles from what we can accept. If the “offer” is meant seriously, and we assume that they are serious, there will be a conflict from May 14,” union leader Odd Christian Øverland of Postkom said.
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) had negotiated a central pay rise with employers association NAVO but talks broke down at the postal service level.
Postkom, which represents about 20,000 postal workers, is shocked by the offer they got, and negotiations were over before they managed to air their demands. Norway Post’s offer is worse in key areas such as pension, insurance and compensation for working inconvenient shifts.
In the meantime workers are preparing the logistics of industrial action that they promise “will be felt”. A strike must not disrupt the delivery of vital substances such as medicine and medical tests. Industrial action that puts lives at risk is halted by the state and compulsory arbitration begins.
