Agreement to merge unions of information technology and electrical workers

Two trade union federations affiliated to the LO confederation, representing information technology and electrical workers respectively, have decided to merge from November 1998. The new federation will have more than 40,000 members, and will become the fifth largest federation affiliated to the LO.

On 20 September 1997 an extraordinary national congress of the Norwegian Union of Electricians and Power Station Workers (Norsk Elektriker- og kraftstasjonsforbund,NEKF) voted in favour of a merger with the Norwegian Union of Information Technology Employees (Tele- og Dataforbundet, TD). TD did the same at its national congress in May 1997. TD mainly organises employees within the state owned company Telenor (previously Norwegian Telecom), while NEKF's members mainly come from municipal power stations and private firms within the electrical installation industry. Both federations are affiliated to the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO).

The new federation, which will also be affiliated to the LO, will be established during November 1998. In the meantime a project group with members from the two existing federations will look into a number of questions with regard to the future organisational structure of the new federation. The new organisation will become LO's fifth largest federation with a total membership of approximately 40,000. The expectations are that the merger will enhance services and activities at local level.

An important reason for the merger between TD and NEKF is to avoid union rivalry for the same member groups. Originally the two federations organised within separate areas, but with the introduction of new technology, semi-privatisation, new company structures and a new competitive situation, this divide has become less pronounced and the two federations have increasingly competed within the same areas for members. Due to increased competitive pressures and a greater degree of autonomy for the electrical installation division within Telenor, the two organisations were organising employees in different establishments within the same market. The two federations expect that their activities will be become even more intertwined as a result of the increased cooperation between the energy companies and suppliers of telecommunications services, and believe that a merger will improve the potential to recruit new members within the information technology sector, where union density is still low.