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Icelandic Midwives’ Overtime Strike Begins At Midnight
Midwives are preparing to stop working overtime from midnight tonight, but sources close to Grapevine report that the ongoing labour dispute is already causing considerable trouble, for new mothers and other hospital staff alike. While a Supreme Court lawyer believes the government…
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Icelandic Midwives Walking Out, Negotiations Ongoing
The labour dispute between midwives and the state continues, as 12 midwives at the Landspítali hospital and others around the country have walked off. Public sentiment is rallying behind them, and the midwives are only asking for salaries that are in harmony…
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Whalers In Iceland Forbidden From Being In Labour Union
Workers within the whaling company Hvalur hf. have been informed by the company that they may not be members of a labour union that recently won a back-wages cases against them in court. A lawyer for the union believes this measure is…
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Icelandic Midwives: Low Pay, Long Hours, But Going On Strike “Pointless”
Icelandic midwives have been fighting to improve their pay for nearly two years, but going on strike would prove ineffective due to on-call “emergency workers”. Vísir reports that these past Easter holidays were a very busy time for midwives at the National…
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Icelandic Union Proposes All Workers Get Same Pay Rise As Company Director
In response to yet another astronomical pay rise for yet another corporate head, a labour union has proposed all the company workers get their share, too. Vísir reported yesterday that Eggert Þór Kristófersson, the director of fuel station company N1, saw his…
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Immigrant-Heavy List Wins Elections In Major Icelandic Labour Union
Elections last night for the board of the labour union Efling saw a huge victory for B-list, a candidate list comprised in large part by immigrants and led by an Icelander promising radical changes. Voter turnout was decidedly low in the elections.…
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Icelandair Airline Engineers On Strike
As expected, airline engineers for Icelandair have gone on strike. Many flights today are cancelled, and no new negotiations are pending at this time. As reported airline engineers at Icelandair have been in negotiations with management for the past six months now,…
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Flight Engineers May Go On Strike This Sunday
Flight engineers have been in negotiations with management for six months, and a strike over the holidays may be in the cards. RÚV reports that negotiations between flight engineers and government arbitration concluded yesterday without any meaningful results. While negotiations are expected…
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Fisherman’s Strike Ends: “We Had A Gun To Our Heads”, Says Union Leader
The strike that went on for about two months has finally drawn to a close, but one union official says the deal was reached after the Minister of Fisheries essentially threatened to enact a law forcing the fishermen back to work. RÚV…
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Solution May Be Soon At Hand In Fishermen’s Labour Dispute
The Ministry of Fisheries recently met with fishing unions and fishing company representatives in the hopes of resolving a strike that has been going on for about two months now. RÚV reports that Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir met…
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Seamen Strike Continues, New Minister Says Strikebreaking Law “Out Of The Question”
While one of the main organisers of a demonstration of seamen has vowed that they will remain on strike, even if parliament passes a law compelling them to go back to work, Iceland’s new Minister of Fisheries has said that such a…
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Teachers, Municipalities Sign Collective Bargaining Agreement
A labour dispute which has been ongoing since last spring has finally come to a close, avoiding another walk-out and massive resignations from Iceland’s primary school teachers. RÚV reports that the agreement was signed at 18:15 last night, avoiding a walk-out that…
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Union Head Criticises Top Union Official: “Cannot Call Himself A Labour Leader”
Vilhjálmur Birgisson, director of the labour union Verkalýðsfélags Akraness, harshly criticised the top union official in the country for downplaying the demands of Iceland’s primary school teachers. Iceland’s primary school teachers, who are municipal employees, have been working without a valid collective…
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Teachers Walk Off Job Today, Labor Crisis Looming
Primary school teachers across the country will be leaving work at 13:30 today, to attend a solidarity meeting pertaining to their ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. Already, many teachers across the country have quit their jobs in the dispute. RÚV reports that afterschool…
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Unions Gearing Up For A Stormy 2017
The Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) voted last week to increase their strike fund by over 67%, as labour leadership predicts many labour unions will be fighting hard in collective bargaining negotiations in the coming year. RÚV reports that ASÍ will be…
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Iceland’s Seamen Are About To Go On Strike
Workers in one of Iceland’s largest industries are about to walk out, having been without a contract for six years, and with management proposing to cut their salaries further. DV reports that the vast majority of unionised seamen voted in favour of…
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Major Fishing Industry Strike In The Works
Iceland’s largest industry may come to a halt this November, as seamen are aiming to go on strike that month if no settlement can be reached between labour and management. Vísir reports that Iceland’s seamen have been working without a valid collective…
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Union Criticises Law On Air Traffic Controllers
The Director of the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB) has spoken up against a recent parliamentary measure forcing air traffic controllers to work overtime. In an article she wrote for Fréttablaðið, BSRB Director Elín Björg Jónsdóttir spoke up about a…
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Foreign Construction Workers Overworked, Underpaid
About 50 foreign construction workers were working far too many hours for far too little pay in north Iceland. A union official told reporters that “no one will get away with this kind of treatment.” Vísir reports that 50 Polish workers brought…
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Management Doubtful They Can Scab For Long
A spokesperson for Rio Tinto Alcan doubts that management will be able to continue to scab against striking harbour workers. Ólafur Teitur Guðnason, the spokesperson for Rio Tinto Alcan, told Vísir that despite recently offloading some 3,000 tonnes of aluminium onto outbound…
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Bosses Offload Aluminium At Rio Tinto Alcan
Management managed to load some 3,000 tonnes of aluminium onto out-bound ships, and unions are awaiting further negotiations. RÚV reports that last Tuesday the County Seat allowed Rio Tinto Alcan to let 15 members of management at the smelter conduct the offloading…
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Smelter Workers Strike, Bosses Attempt To Replace Them
Workers at the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter went on strike at midnight last night, bringing aluminium exports from the smelter to a halt. Management is hoping to do the jobs of the employees, but who may work where is being disputed. The…
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Management And Trade Unions Against Shorter Work Week
Representatives of both labour and management oppose a bill that would shorten the fulltime work week from 40 hours to 35, but opinions did not divide along a simple binary. The bill in question is still in the first round of parliamentary…