The negotiations on a new agreement on inclusive working life (IA) broke down last week, when the government gave up the attempt. – We have simply been put in the way. We have experienced a fraudulent process both during the negotiations themselves and afterwards, says LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik made several salvos against the employers’ organizations when she met the press on Monday. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news According to Følsvik, the employers’ organizations must have brought Unio, Akademikerne and YS into the back room and “cobbled together a proposal” which they will then have presented to the minister. – This is such a serious breach of trust, and I have not experienced anything like it in my entire time at LO, says Følsvik, when she explains why they are now breaking off the collaboration. The aim of the agreement on inclusive working life is, among other things, to reduce sickness absence, which has not been higher than in 14 years. – Extremely fraudulent Gunpowder salves are several from the LO leader. – The behavior during the negotiations, leaks from inside the negotiation room and the fact that the NHO chief went out after the negotiations and canceled the parties’ cooperation in the press, without prior process. – This is a breach of all cooperative traditions. We find that to be extremely fraudulent, says the LO leader. Escalating the conflict The reason why the negotiations ran aground was primarily that the Norwegian Confederation of Business and Industry (NHO) and LO each issued an ultimatum on the sick pay scheme: LO wants to preserve the scheme for four years, while NHO agreed to preserve it for two, and at the same time investigate the one with regard to cuts. Now LO is escalating the conflict and notified NHO this morning that they will break off the collaboration if a new agreement is not put in place within a short time. NHO and LO have collaborated closely in recent years in negotiations on both corona support and electricity support for businesses. But now LO announces that they no longer wish to carry out bilateral cooperation with any of the employers’ organisations. This applies, among other things, to cooperation such as the IA agreement’s industry programmes, where they provide close follow-up and special facilitation in industries with a particularly high level of sickness absence. This also applies to the energy cooperation in the power lift, where LO and NHO collaborate with the government to ensure Norwegians and businesses have access to enough renewable power at competitive prices. It also means more, according to Følsvik, without specifying it further. – Naturally, we will also carry out salary negotiations, employment law and contractual dispute meetings and assistance to the members. We also still stand by the main agreement, says the LO leader. – What will it take for you to resume cooperation? – The employer organizations must return to the negotiating table and sign the agreement that was on the table at the meeting with Tonje Brenna (Ap) on Wednesday. That is the only way to get out of this, says Følsvik. – If not, we face an icy relationship until the tariff negotiations this spring. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik tells news that they still stand by the main agreement. Photo: Ismail Burak Akkan / news – Very dramatic NHO chief Ole Erik Almlid says he is very surprised by today’s development. – I am very surprised that we have reached where we are now. It is very dramatic that they are cutting all cooperation, says Almlid to news. He says they are ready to resume cooperation when LO wants it. – We have experienced little willingness to compromise from LO in the negotiations. But this is very strange, and I really hope that LO can take care of itself and come back, to talk about everything else we are going to solve together, says Almlid. – Does LO have to take the initiative for you to talk again? – Yes, it is now. If it were up to me, we would have talked tonight. NHO chief Ole Erik Almlid says he is very surprised by today’s development. Here he is during Dagsnytt 18 on Monday evening. Photo: Ismail Burak Akkan / news Came as a surprise He repeats again that NHO was ready to protect the sick pay scheme for two years, in return for it to be investigated for possible changes. – Norway has the world’s highest sickness absence rate. Then the entire tripartite collaboration must be willing to discuss all possible solutions. LO was not willing to do that, says Almlid. LO leader Følsvik was a guest on Dagsnytt 18 on Monday evening. There she said that LO believes it is completely unthinkable to preserve the sick pay scheme for two years. – Research and investigations must be carried out, and a number of measures must be implemented to see if they have an effect or not. This takes time, and for us it is important to have a four-year agreement. That’s how it has always been, said Følsvik during Dagsnytt 18. The NHO chief says he is very surprised that LO would not agree to a knowledge gathering about the sick pay scheme, as parts of it also concern how much sick pay the employers must pay before the state takes over. He also appeared on Dagsnytt 18. There he described the situation as serious. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik and NHO manager Ole Erik Almlid shake hands after Dagsnytt 18. But Følsvik did not want to sit with Almlid in the studio. Photo: Ismail Burak Akkan / news When asked if NHO has everything clean, Amlid was clear in his speech: – Absolutely. We must remember that we have a backdrop of sickness absence which has increased massively, and we are doing everything we can to bring it down. When we have had parties that we have experienced as much more willing to compromise than LO, then it is very natural that you sit down and talk together, said Amlid during Dagsnytt 18 on Monday evening. The head of the employers’ organization Spekter, Anne-Kari Bratten, also calls the LO breach surprising. – It is surprising and regrettable that LO chooses to break the cooperation with the employer side, says Bratten. – Part of the tripartite collaboration is also to handle those situations where you do not necessarily agree on everything. Facts about the IA agreement The agreement between the state and the parties in working life on a more inclusive working life (IA agreement) aims to reduce sickness absence and reduce dropouts from working life. It was first entered into in 2001 and has been renewed four times. The current agreement applies from 2019 to 2024. It was continued in 2022 without changes due to the impact of the pandemic on working life from 2020 to 2022. The aim of the agreement is to reduce sickness absence by 10 per cent compared to 2018, as well as to reduce absenteeism from working life . The agreement applies to all the country’s companies, subject to certain conditions. In addition to the state, NHO, LO, KS, Unio, Virke, YS, Spekter and Akademikerne are parties to the agreement. War of words after negotiation breakdown After Labor Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap) had to state that the parties did not reach an agreement on a new IA agreement, LO issued a press release. There it laid the blame for the breakdown in negotiations on the NHO and the employers’ side. The parties in working life together with Labor Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap), when the negotiation breakdown was a fact last week: Former Anne-Kari Bratten in Spekter, Tor Arne Gangsø in KS, Nina Melsom in NHO, Hans-Erik Skjæggerud in YS, Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg in The academics, Ragnhild Lied in Unio and Steinar Krogstad in LO. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB It provoked one of the four employee organisations, Akademikerne, who issued a separate press release, in which leader Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg accused LO of telling lies. – LO says they were put in the hallway. The truth is that they showed little willingness to negotiate, says Randeberg now. Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg is leader of the employee organization Akademikerne. She says that the Academicians “strongly wanted” an agreement. – In the rush, we experienced the employers’ side as constructive, while LO and the minister were not interested in finding solutions. What LO has achieved is that they have put the sick pay scheme into play, says Randeberg. LO leader Følsvik believes this is not true, that LO has been ultimate, rigid and not solution-oriented. She says they have been willing to discuss and investigate everything, including the sick pay scheme, on the condition that it should be preserved for another four years. – It is important for LO to reduce the high level of sickness absence, but for LO it is important that workers know that they can be safe even when they are ill! And we stand by that, says the LO leader. Published 09.12.2024, at 10.10 Updated 09.12.2024, at 19.30
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