What are collective bargaining agreements in Norway?
A collective bargaining agreement (Norwegian: tariffavtale) is a written agreement between unionized workers and/or an employers’ organization or an individual employer. The agreement provides all employees covered by the collective agreement with a common wage and working conditions system and other working conditions.
The collective agreement applies to the parties (organisations or workplaces) that signed the agreement and their members.
For example, a collective bargaining agreement may give you more rights than the law, in relation to working hours, overtime allowance, pay for evening, night, weekend and public holidays, pensions, special leave, notice periods, collective decision-making, clothes working days and the number of vacation days.
Most collective bargaining agreements in Norway apply nationwide. Then employees across the country work under the same pay and working conditions, regardless of the company that employs them. Usually, a national trade union and a national employers’ association enter into a collective bargaining agreement. An example of this is the collective agreement for industry, Industrioverenskomsten.
The parties to this agreement are Fellesforbundet and the employers’ organization Norsk Industri. Plants that are members of Norsk Industri and that have joined the agreement are bound to comply with it. Also, plants that are not members of Norsk Industri, but that have entered into a contract directly with Fellesforbundet, are obliged to comply with Industrioverenskomsten.
Part 1 of the collective agreement usually consists of the main contract. Here you will find the rules for both shop stewards and employers. The main deal is valid for four years and is renewed in separate negotiations.
In part 2 of the collective agreement (conciliation agreement, Nor.: overenskomsten) you will find agreements on pay and working conditions for the area of the collective agreement, i.e. the area or sector to which the agreement applies. A collective bargaining agreement usually lasts for two years. It is changed after negotiations between employers and employees during the so-called collective bargaining agreement (norm: tariffoppgjør) or wage settlement (norm: lønnsoppgjør). If the parties fail to reach a reconciliation, the result may be a collective dispute. If workers stop working, it is called a strike. If employers stop working, this is called a lockout.
In addition, shop stewards and establishments may enter into specific agreements on one or more issues that will apply locally or centrally.
If a trade union has enough members in a company, it can request that this current collective agreement for this sector apply to their company. If the plant rejects the request, members may legally go on strike to put pressure on the plant. When a plant joins a collective bargaining agreement, future changes to the collective bargaining agreement will automatically apply to the plant.
In nine sectors in Norway, we have the so-called generalization (Norwegian: allmenngjøring) of the collective bargaining agreement. This means that wages and certain working conditions apply as a minimum to all those working in these industries, whether the company has entered into a collective bargaining agreement or not, as this has been approved by law for the entire industry.
Source: FriFagbevegelses Tariffleksikon, Snl.no; Translation: Joanna Godlewska
Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.
