NITO will remain a member of AF

At its annual meeting in November 1998, the council of representatives of the Norwegian Society of Engineers (NITO) decided that the organisation should remain a member of the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (AF), rather than following the other affiliates to have left recently. The decision is based on AF being seen as the most viable alternative at present, but NITO stressed that recent developments and events within AF must be monitored closely.

The council of representatives of the Norwegian Society of Engineers (Norsk Ingeniørorganisasjon, NITO) decided at its annual meeting on 19-22 November 1998, that NITO would retain its membership of the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikernes Fellesorganisasjon, AF). The representative council based its decision on AF being seen as the most viable alternative at present, but the committee emphasised that recent developments and events within AF, and within Norwegian industrial relations generally, must be monitored closely. The general council, which is in charge of the day-to-day running of the organisation, was given the task of monitoring these developments, and of summoning an extraordinary representative council meeting if the situation in AF should change in a direction which was not satisfactory for NITO. There was a large majority in favour of the decision. NITO had previously considered the possibility of finding alternative alliance partners, if the situation in AF so demanded.

NITO is the largest trade union organisation for engineers in Norway. It organises employees in the state, municipal and private sectors, and consists of approximately 46,000 members. NITO is also one of the largest organisations in AF.

NITO's reserved attitude must be seen in the light of the recent disintegration of AF. When several AF affiliates left to form a new confederation for academically qualified staff, Akademikerne, it led to a situation in which several of NITO's partners within the confederation disappeared (NO9807174F). NITO's aloofness may also be explained by the fact that there was a distinct polarisation of views across its membership during the 1998 pay settlement (NO9806170F). Whilst NITO as an organisation was in favour of more decentralised bargaining, others in the union were in favour of more centralisation of pay determination. There are also other conflicting views on economic and political matters. An important factor in relation to NITO's future choice of confederal affiliation will be the governments' decision on a proposal put forward by the Labour Law Commission in 1997 to strengthen the position of confederations in with regard to collective bargaining (NO9706112F).