Demands real wage growth and a modern wage system in the City of Oslo
"Education, competence, responsibility and effort must pay off on the paycheck," demands Julius Okkenhaug, head of negotiations for Akademikerne in the City of Oslo.
On Tuesday 14 April at 10:00 a.m., the main collective agreement in the City of Oslo began.
Employees with the right skills are the municipality's most important resource. Then they must also have a salary system that makes it possible to attract and retain people with the skills to provide citizens with good services
Julius Okkenhaug, Akademikerne municipality (pictured)
The current salary system means that the negotiations for over 50,000 employees in the City of Oslo take place centrally at the city hall. NITO and Akademikerne demand a change in this so that all their members have local, collective wage negotiations in the workplaces, as is the case in the rest of working life.
"Wages must be used as a real tool. This requires that the negotiations take place where the skills needs are known, in the workplaces. In this way, education, competence, responsibility and effort can count on the paycheck. We don't have that opportunity when the negotiations are taking place centrally as we do today," says Okkenhaug.
Without being able to use salaries to retain and recruit good professionals, the City of Oslo risks losing valuable expertise.
Demands real wage growth
Akademikerne is also demanding real wage growth in the settlement. The wage difference between highly educated people in the private sector and the public sector is around NOK 300,000.
Many highly educated people are considering changing jobs, according to surveys conducted by Akademikerne. The main reason is salary.
"When employees leave, experience, expertise and professional environment also disappear. It weakens the quality of services to citizens. The municipality must use wages actively to be competitive. They have the opportunity to do something about this in the wage settlement," Okkenhaug concludes.
Akademikerne negotiates for 4600 members in the City of Oslo, including NITO's members. The deadline for negotiations is 30 April at 12 p.m.