Foreign Worker Threatened For Joining Union

A Spanish man working for Hótel Drangshlíð, near Eyjafjallajökull, was threatened with termination by his employer should he join a labour union, RÚV reports. The employee had been working for the company Hvalvörðugilslækur — which operates the hotel — before deciding to join the South Iceland Labour Union (VLFS). According to a screenshot from the chat software Slack, the company owner Ingólfur Ragnar Axelsson said:

“If you want to join this union that you used to be in I will let you go, just so that is very clear. So reconsider the email you sent to accounting about joining the union or start looking around for another job.”

VLFS has referred the case to the Labour Court, which is currently conducting investigation. In conversation with RÚV, union chairperson Guðrún Elín Pálsdóttir said this is the first instance where the organisation has pressed charges against a company for similar actions. She said that the case demonstrates the manipulation of foreign employees within Icelandic businesses.

VR, Iceland’s largest labour union, currently has two cases before the Labour Court, chairperson Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson told RÚV. One of those cases pertains to Tröllaferðir — another company owned by Ingólfur Ragnar Axelsson.