The SA needs to take responsibility, work with the labor union movement, and ensure that the new collective agreement provides workers with redundancy protection. As it stands today, shameless employers can fire people at will, for no reason. In the same way, the rights of confidants in workplaces must be strengthened and guaranteed in the collective agreements.
“I expect SA to work with us quickly and efficiently in the coming days to bring these issues to a conclusion with appropriate contract changes,” said Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chairman of Efling after a well-attended meeting of Efling’s negotiating committee last night, February 5. At the meeting, the situation in the collective agreement negotiations with SA was reviewed in detail. The committee expressed full confidence in Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir to continue the talks, following the current track.
This is the seventh time the committee has met this year after talks began in earnest at the end of December between SA and the Union Alliance of the largest national associations and associations within ASÍ. Efling has been a member of the Union Alliance since the beginning.
Higher earners reject flat wage increases
In the negotiations, Efling has agreed to modest wage increases, on the condition that the lowest wages rise in particular and that the government’s intervention through the correction of the public distribution systems will be significant. These goals stand, even though it is now clear that there will not be an agreement on flat wage increases, as in the Living Wage Agreements (Lífskjarasamningnum) 2019-2022. This was discussed at the negotiation committee meeting yesterday.
“It is unfortunate that a small group of tradesmen outside the Union Alliance and associations of higher paid civil servants together with SA have built a wall against flat wage increases. I believe that an important weapon has been lost in the fight for equality in our society. However, Efling cannot control the ideology that dominates the higher-paid groups,” said Sólveig Anna.
Redundancy protection and confidant rights
Efling emphasizes that the rights of members of the association will be strengthened in the collective agreement with SA. Currently, regular workers in the general labor market enjoy no redundancy protection, and it is possible to lay off workers for no reason whatsoever. This is contrary to the directive of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and discrimination, compared to the rules of the public labor market.
Efling demands that clauses be implemented in the contracts with SA that guarantee objective reasons for dismissal, and safeguards that prevent workers who make comments in good faith regarding terms and conditions at the workplace from being dismissed for that reason.
Efling has also placed great emphasis on strengthening the rights of confidants, who are the backbone of all the union’s work and the prerequisite for workers to be able to protect their rights at work.
“Unfortunately, the rights of many of our members are trampled on by employers, and the much talked about organized labor market does not live up to its name. SA needs to take responsibility with us for the collective agreement providing the workers with the protection it should and therefore acting as a deterrent against shameless employers. I expect SA to work with us quickly and efficiently in the coming days to bring these issues to a conclusion with appropriate contract changes” Sólveig Anna said.