There will be no further agreements on moderate wage increases in collective bargaining unless the authorities clean up the “mess” that the housing market has become. It is unacceptable that the vast majority of Efling members’ income, in some cases as much as 70 percent, goes straight into the pockets of landlords every month. Efling will not take part in making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
This was stated by Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chair of Efling, on Morgunútvarpið on Rás 2 this morning. Sólveig pointed out that ahead of the last collective agreements, Efling pushed hard for flat-rate pay rises instead of percentage increases. Flat-rate rises boost the purchasing power of lower-income groups in the labour market the most, thereby increasing equality, while also reducing inflationary pressure since the pay rises of higher-income groups are more restrained.
However, there was no way of moving forward with flat-rate increases, since unions representing higher earners within ASÍ flatly refused and, in doing so, broke the unity of the labour movement. Such demands were also strongly opposed by unions like BHM, as well as by the counterpart in negotiations, the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise. The result is growing inequality, and the goals of reducing inflationary pressure and bringing inflation down have not been achieved.
“So storm clouds are gathering over the Icelandic labour market if the people who had themselves elected to power, partly by appealing to working people, don’t start cleaning up this mess, which above all includes the housing market here, at least in the capital area,” said Sólveig Anna on Morgunútvarpið.
You can listen to the interview with Sólveig Anna here, in Icelandic. The interview begins at minute 00:54:50.