As newly appointed YS leader with 230,000 members behind him, Hans-Erik Skjæggerud used the first opportunity to fire at the government. – We are not satisfied. The Norwegian model is about employers, employees and authorities playing as a team. Then all parties must be involved, says Skjæggerud to news. He believes that the tripartite cooperation is now cracking at the joints. The collaboration where employee organizations together with the employers and the government design working life policy and other arrangements. – LO has very close contact with the government. Many decisions are taken without the majority being present, because the majority of Norwegian workers are organized outside LO, he continues. Skjæggerud describes the close cooperation between the government and LO as a challenge for the rest of working life. – If not all parties are involved, then the government will not get proposals for solutions that provide the best decisions either. It goes beyond Norwegian working life and the economy. He gets the full support of Unio leader Ragnhild Lied. Together, the two main associations organize just under 620,000 workers. – Our experience is that there is not as close cooperation with the government as it was in the previous period, with the previous government. It is very unfortunate. Not least in times of crisis, it is important that the government listens to all parties in the tripartite cooperation, says Lied. Expecting improvement YS leader Skjæggerud also believes that cooperation with the government worked better under Erna Solberg than it does now. – There were mixed experiences there as well. But in the last couple of years, when the pandemic hit the country, we got really good cross-party cooperation in place, he says. Both Lied and Skjæggerud expect recovery from Støre and his crew going forward. – We have to tell Støre what he risks by not having all the parties at the table. He is the captain of the ship and must take control of the crew. If not, it affects working life and Norwegian workers, says the YS leader. As examples of what they perceive as favoritism by LO, Unio leader Ragnhild Lied highlights meetings they only find out about afterwards. Unio leader, Ragnhild Lied. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB – We are calling for meetings, which we hear about, where we have not been present. A meeting is then usually arranged, but it is usually too late, she says. On the sidelines Hans-Erik Skjæggerud in YS believes that the government in practice places large parts of Norwegian working life on the sidelines. – That is what we have experienced so far, he says. – So you mean that LO and Ap are running a cook-monk between themselves? – Yes, it is quite clear. We have had several examples over the past year of the cooperation between the parties not working as it should. The YS leader cites the negotiation on electricity support for households and business as one example. He says the government then held meetings with LO and NHO – without the other organizations being present. – We hear nothing. We only hear in the media that the parties in working life have met, he says. NHO: – More people who know about it As LO is the largest player among employees, NHO is the largest on the employer side. And NHO’s working life director Nina Melsom says she is well aware of the dissatisfaction from certain organisations. – It is probably a fact that several players feel that there was better dialogue with the previous government than the current government, she says to news. Melsom advises the government to change course. Nina Melsom, director of working life at NHO. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – It is incredibly important to ensure a good tripartite dialogue. Then all actors must experience being taken seriously, says Melsom, who describes the dialogue between NHO and the government as good. – Do you feel that LO has become more important and the other organizations less important when the government meets you? – There are probably more people who know about it now. In troubled times, it is important to ensure legitimacy and trust, she says. Støre: – Not correct Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) agrees with the descriptions from YS and Unio. He denies that the government favors LO. – It is not correct. We want to listen to all organizations in working life. We cheer for everyone who chooses to organise, whether they are companies or working people. We also listen to YS, and we intend to continue doing so, says Støre. There are strong historical ties between LO and the Labor Party. To this day, three LO leaders sit on the Labor Party’s central board, precisely by virtue of their professional positions. But Støre says the government has a “broad contact surface” – both among employee and employer organisations. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Sp). – Is the criticism unreasonable? – No, I understand that they sign up. And it is not the case that all organizations are in all meetings all the time. But we take the organizations along when we have hearings, processes and so on. The Prime Minister makes a call in return to the two organisations: – There was something Gro Harlem Brundtland taught me once, namely that the telephone works both ways. They want us to be more in touch with them. I’ll take that with me. But they also have the option of contacting us. They know very well where we are and who we are, and the contact is completely open, says Støre.
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Trade unions accuse Støre of favoring LO – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
