The office of Efling Union has undergone organizational changes. The main change is simplified division of tasks between departments and significant strengthening of the role of department directors. The goal is to improve the service for members, as the changes create opportunities for reviews and improvements concerning all work procedures in different departments.General reception of inquiries and processing of applications to union funds (recreational fund, educational fund, and sickness benefit fund) and the VIRK rehabilitation service will fall under a new Service Department (Þjónustusvið). It will be headed by Ingibjörg Ólafsdóttir, who has been the director of VIRK services at Efling.A new Department of Organizing and Development (Félags- og þróunarsvið) comes into existence, handling member education, publicity, the union representative system and other social activities of Efling. The new director of the department is Anna Gunnhildur Ólafsdóttir, who begins work on September 2. Anna Gunnhildur was previously the director of The Icelandic Mental Health Alliance (Geðhjálp). She is welcomed to her position in Efling.A new director of the Department of Contract Compliance (Kjaramálasvið), Sylvía Ólafsdóttir, began work on August 12. Sylvia has education in law and was previously employed at Icelandic Health Insurance (Sjúkratryggingar Íslands). The organizational changes will not change the role of Contract Compliance, but Sylvia will lead review and reforms of work processes in the department.Two core department will be created, which will operate across the three previously mentioned departments. They are the Department of Management, under the direction of CFO Óskar Örn Ágústsson, and Department of Office and HR, under the direction of Berglind Rós Gunnarsdóttir Head of Office.Sveinn Ingvason who has been division head of the recreational fund for many years will continue to direct the management and maintenance of vacation houses. He will transitition to the Department of Management.A new department, the Office of the Chairman (Skrifstofa formanns), will be founded. It will handle contract negotiations, research, policymaking, workplace inspection, and relations with counterparties and allies in the labor market. Ragnar Ólason, previosly head of Contract Compliance, will transition to a new role of specialist in the Office of the Chairman.All permanently employed directors at Efling who are impacted by the change have been offered other positions with the union.Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, the chairman of Efling, said in relation to the changes: “The negotiations of last winter demanded our full attention, but now it is time for our next task which is to improve the union’s service. This is a promise I gave when I ran for chairman of Efling and I will keep that promise. We will also reach out better to our members, that’s how we build a strong union and give workers the tools to defend their rights. I know that the fantastic staff of Efling will make the maximum effort to achieve this.”Agnieszka Ewa Ziolkowska, the vice-chairman of Efling, said that she has sensed a strong demand from members for faster and better processing of their inquiries. She hopes that the changes will make it easier to meet this demand. “The employers have made a huge, and actually far too big, problem for unions through their treatment of workers. This is unacceptable. We are going to support the staff of Efling to put power and organization into the processing of all inquiries.”Here is diagram of Efling’s new organizational chart.The changes were presented to staff today and the office will work according to the new organizational chart beginning Monday September 2.
