Norway unions, employers agree wage deal, averting strike

Kitron ASA

21/08/2020 21:56

OSLO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Norwegian workers reached a deal
with employers on Friday over wages at shipyards and a wide
range of other manufacturing industries, averting the outbreak
of a major labour dispute, the largest union of the private
sector said.
    Some 28,000 workers had been scheduled to go on strike if no
agreement was found, and a conflict could also have spread to
other industries.
    The United Federation of Trade Unions, also known as
Fellesforbundet, said the deal gave a pay increase of 0.5
Norwegian crowns ($0.06) per hour of work.
    Employers had warned that a strike amid the COVID-19
pandemic could have resulted in further damage to an already
fragile economy and put the future of many companies at risk.
    Among the firms that would have been affected by a strike
were Aker Solutions  AKES.OL , Nexans  NEXS.PA , Norsk Hydro
 NHY.OL , Kitron  KIT.OL , Kongsberg Gruppen  KOG.OL  and
Kvaerner  KVAER.OL , unions said.
    While workers in other public and private sectors negotiate
separately, the chance of widespread strikes diminishes when
manufacturing workers, who by tradition are first to bargain and
thus set the tone for the other talks, reach a deal.

($1 = 9.0088 Norwegian crowns)

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and
Nerijus Adomaitis)
 ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70))