Efling members who work as drivers of oil trucks at Skeljungur and Olíudreifing had a well-attended meeting in the Efling Community Centre last night, Januar 24th. Oil truck drivers in Efling work according to the same special collective agreement with the oil companies.
In the meeting a united negotiations committee for the members of both companies was appointed, and a list of demands was drafted. The union representatives of Efling at the companies organized the meeting in cooperation with the union office, and previously there had been workplace meetings at each company separately.
Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir chairman of Efling moderated the meeting, where the status of the collective bargaining with SA (Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise) was discussed thoroughly. Those who attended the meeting expressed strong support for the union´s struggle for acceptable collective agreements. In their last offer to SA the Efling negotiations committee demanded raising the categories of both truck drivers and bus drivers in the wage table.
In addition, there was a lot of talk in the meeting about the importance of considering the pressure and responsibility of handling dangerous materials when evaluating the salary. Oil truck drivers and others who drive with dangerous materials need to have a so-called ADR-license, but it is not taken into account for raising the wages in the current collective agreement.
Representatives from the Efling negotiations committee and drivers from Samskip were also invited to the meeting. Drivers and dock workers at Samskip have already formed their own negotiations committee and put forth demands.
