“We love our job. That’s why we’re still here. It’s definitely not for the money.” These are the words of an unskilled kindergarten worker spoken during a visit by Sólveig Anna and Ragnar Ólason yesterday. This woman has worked at the same kindergarten for nearly three decades, but she doesn’t even get 300.000kr after taxes per month. This forces her to work two side jobs to make ends meet. She, along with her colleagues with Read more…
The state and Reykjavík city have agreed to a down payment of 105.000 kr for Efling workers on August 1. The negotiating team of the union of municipalities, SÍS, has banned other municipalities from doing the same. Yesterday, a letter from the team to the municipal councils was published in the media. In the letter, the reason for the ban is said to be the referral of the negotiations with Efling and other SGS unions Read more…
On May 1, the new collective agreement with SA gave Efling members in the private market a 17.000kr/month raise, plus other benefits. Some employers have tried to escape those raises, such as Árni Valur Sólonsson, owner of CapitalHotels. He terminated the wage section of all his employees’ contracts and told them they’d be rehired at uncertain terms, designed to counter the raises. Efling considers this to be illegal on several counts. Firstly, this breaches the Read more…
Efling has demanded a meeting with Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, the director of the business cartel, SA, in the offices of the state mediator, due to noncompliance with the new collective agreements. The case arose after the mass termination of wage terms by Árni Valur Sólonsson, a hotel manager, immediately after new agreements went into force. In the letter of termination this is said to be “with the aim of reducing labour costs”, due to “foreseeable Read more…
Reykjavík city Efling has met with the city’s representatives over several month. No progress has been made to talk of. The negotiation committee of Efling does not have much hope for the approach seen at meetings so far. Talks have been broken off and preparations for a strike begun. State A shorter working week has bee discussed. The unions emphasise an actual shortening of working time in these agreements. A trial project by the authorities Read more…
Half of the Efling membership is from abroad. They often work under the management of Icelanders who prefer to speak with staff in Icelandic. “We have seen how very important information gets communicated to staff in a language they simply don’t understand,” says Viðar Þorsteinsson, managing director of Efling. “This winter we attended a staff meeting where a high-level manager announced a mass layoff in Icelandic, which nearly everyone in the room didn’t understand. The Read more…
In Iceland, many hotels and restaurants are run by conglomerates and chains. These companies keep the tourist economy going, but they themselves are kept going by mostly foreign labour. They also have rapid turnover of staff. In these conditions, having solid union representation is very important. However, these are also the places where it’s often proven the hardest to get union reps elected. Some of these businesses see the whole chain as a single “workplace”, Read more…
Before Easter, the legal office Réttur sent letters to companies which rented workers from the temp agency Menn í vinnu this winter. In the letter, it is made clear that, due to laws on chain responsibility, they are liable for their workers’ unpaid wages, even if their work is bought through a temp agency. “What we’re hoping is that these companies take care, in future, that their employees from temp agencies get correct pay and Read more…
All member unions of SGS accepted the new collective agreement with the business cartel, SA, in a vote that concluded yesterday. Most did so with a sizable majority. Amongst Efling members, 77% voted yes and 2.3% abstained. In total, 19 thousand people were on the Efling voting registry. The agreement applies to general workers in sectors such as construction, transportation, road construction, dock work, agriculture, mechanical work and in hotels and restaurants. You can read Read more…
A new collective agreement for private market workers in Efling has been signed, lasting for 3 years and 8 months. It includes significant input from the government, and adds disposable income from several sources. It will be effective as of April 1, 2019. A vote on the agreement will take place very soon. Here’s an overview of the main items. Raises Wages will rise every year, from April 1, 2019 to the contract’s end in Read more…