Due to lack of response from the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Markets, Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, to the administrative complaint that Efling – union presented to the minister on January 30, the association has decided to file a claim for annulment of the mediation proposal to the general courts.
The state mediator will be summoned to the District Court, where Efling will demand the annulment of the office’s mediation proposal that was announced in the media on January 26.
From the beginning, Efling has rejected the legitimacy of the proposal, which was submitted contrary to the provisions of the law on consulting with parties to a dispute, and is also in one and all agreement with the demands of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprises (Samtök atvinnulífsins). All general unions of workers in Iceland have criticized the State Mediator handling of the case.
Efling’s policy will be submitted to the Reykjavík District Court today and a request will be made for an expedited hearing.
“We have said from the beginning that the mediating proposal of the State Mediator is invalid and goes against the law. The office has abused its powers with taking a stand with the views of one party in a wage dispute and trying to deprive the other party, which in this case is the country’s lowest-income workers, of their independent bargaining rights. We demand that the courts deal with this behavior,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling.