NITO and NHO agree on collective bargaining
NITO and NHO have agreed to continue the current collective agreement without changes to the text of the agreement for the next two years.
What does the result mean?
- The agreement will continue for two years.
- The rights in the current agreement remain.
- Local wage negotiations will continue according to the current rules.
After three days of negotiations, the parties concluded that it was not possible to reach agreement on changes to the agreement. For NITO, it has been important to retain the rights contained in the current agreement. This is safeguarded by continuing the agreement.
The negotiations have been carried out by NITO's collective bargaining committee NITO Privat, with support from NITO's secretariat.
Pictured: Yngve Sjølset, Eddy Nynes, Frøydis Amundsen, Hege Glimsdal and Roger Matberg.
Both we and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) entered the negotiations with demands for changes to the agreement. The parties' positions proved difficult to reconcile. After many rounds, we concluded that it would not be possible to reach agreement on changes at this time.
Yngve Sjølset, head of NITO Private
Local negotiations continue as before
Many business groups are already in the process of this year's local wage negotiations on the basis of the current collective agreement.
"When the text of the agreement is continued, it means that the local processes will continue as normal. Members and union representatives must comply with the same provisions as before," says Sjølset.
Will map the use of level assessment systems
Although the agreement will continue without changes, the parties have agreed to follow up on a topic that is becoming increasingly important in working life.
The liaison committee between NITO and NHO will initiate work to map the use of systems for level assessment of positions and roles. Such systems are increasingly being used in the enterprises.
The goal is to gain better knowledge about how the systems affect local wage negotiations, and whether there is a need for adjustments to ensure the necessary involvement of union representatives in the introduction and use.
Follows up on local disagreements
The NITO Private Tariff Committee and NITO's secretariat will now follow up on local disagreements that may be relevant for dispute resolution with NHO.
These are often time-consuming processes that can take place over a long period of time. Experience from such cases is important when NITO prepares future collective bargaining negotiations.
In most places, there are good processes around the local negotiations. At the same time, we see that many business groups do not perceive the negotiations as genuine, and that they are not met as equal parties.
Yngve Sjølset, NITO Private
"The agreement is our most important tool for ensuring good processes locally," concludes Sjølset.
See the details of the protocol
The details of what NITO and NHO agreed on in this year's collective agreement negotiations can be read in the minutes:
