New LO union for professional sportsmen and women

From 1 January 1999, the Norwegian Athletes Organisation (NISO), has been admitted as a federation into the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). The federation, which organises sportsmen and women within football, ice hockey and handball, has requested collective agreements for its members at several Premier League football clubs.

As of 1 January 1999, Norwegian Athletes Organisation (Norsk Idrettsutøveres Sentralorganisasjon, NISO) was admitted, in its own right, as a federation into the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO). The federation was established on 1 May 1995, and was originally a trade union affiliated to the LO-affiliated Norwegian Civil Service Union (Norsk Tjenestemannslag, NTL). NISO organises athletes within team sports such as football, handball and ice hockey, and is, with approximately 600 members, one of LO's smallest federations.

NISO's aim is to achieve fair conditions for professional sportsmen and women by endeavouring to reach collective agreements and regulated contracts. The federation offers assistance to its members with regards to negotiations, legal aid and financial advice, and offers different types of insurance.

Today, two-thirds of NISO's members are footballers, but the organisation also has members from handball and ice hockey. In the long run, NISO would like to be an organisation covering all athletes who receive an income from their sports club.

NISO has demanded collective agreements for its members in four football clubs within the Norwegian Premier League. Among other matters, the federation would like to ensure that the clauses in the Basic Agreement between LO and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) (NO9711134F) also apply to NISO's members. This will ensure that sportsmen and women are given rights to co-determination in their sport clubs. Insurance matters is another area which NISO would like to regulate. The footballers will, however, retain their individual salaries.

So far, none of the football clubs are members of an employers' organisation. The demands for pay agreements may, however, mean that the employers organise. A recent article published in NHO's weekly newspaper, states that NHO now expects that several football clubs will soon join it (Næringslivets Ukeavis, 22 January 1999). Arne Hole at NHO expects the majority of sports clubs in the top divisions to be NHO affiliates in a few years' time.