What is happening? Hotel workers in Efling – union have voted on a strike. Over 90% agreed. This means there is a legal strike starting Friday, March 22. (Work restrictions, supposed to start on March 18, have been ruled illegal.) Why do we strike? Hotels have made a lot of Read more…
The employers’ association, SA, has again issued a lawsuit against strikes called by Efling. This time, the lawsuit targets mild workplace actions in hotels and bus companies. The actions were planned with workers in the relevant industries, and are designed to put pressure on employers without crippling the workplaces. Efling Read more…
Three sets of strikes have now been voted on: Firstly among workers in hotels, secondly among bus company workers, and thirdly among workers at Almenningsvagnar Kynnisferða, which services a part of the city bus routes of Strætó BS. All three were accepted with a large majority of ballots cast. Why do Read more…
In a new poll of Efling members, produced by Gallup, strong support for the union’s demands in collective negotiations is made clear. Nearly 80% of members consider it fair and the same proportion declares readiness to go on strike to push for the unions’ wage demands. It is not least Read more…
Halldór Benjamín, the manager of the business association, SA, said on the radio yesterday that the negotiations for new collective agreements were going well with everyone except Efling, and the other unions that referred their negotiations to the state mediator. Why is that? Our comrade Vilhjálmur Birgisson, head of the Read more…
Efling, along with the Hlíf Union, Verkalýðs- og sjómannafélag Keflavíkur (Trade and Seamen’s Union of Keflavík and Environs) and Stéttarfélag Vesturlands (the West Iceland Trade Union) signed collective agreements with employers in 2015. They expired at the end of last year, and we are now negotiating new ones. We have Read more…
When negotiating new collective agreements, it is important to look at what the government is doing about housing. A concerted effort is required to expand social housing and to lower the cost of rent. The demands of Efling have from the beginning addressed this core issue. Yesterday, the housing action Read more…
1. What’s a strike? A strike is when employees stop working in order to put pressure behind their demands in collective negotiations. Strikes can be limited and last for a short time, or they can apply to all members of a union and last an indefinite time — a general strike. Strike actions, Read more…