Pay settlement for metalworking industry successfully negotiated

Agreement was reached on 20 April 1998 for a new collective agreement in the Norwegian metalworking industry. The deal gives workers an additional NOK 3 per hour.

On 20 April 1998, the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions (Fellesforbundet, FF) and the Federation of Norwegian Engineering Industries (Teknologibedriftenes Landsforening, TBL) agreed on a new pay agreement for workers in the metalworking industry. The new agreement covers approximately 45,000 employees and provides for a general pay increase of NOK 3 per hour. The minimum wage rate, the rate for shiftwork and offshore-working bonuses have also been adjusted. The agreement also provides for local bargaining at company level within the industry. The metalworking pay settlement normally sets a precedent for the remaining sectoral pay settlements in the bargaining round (NO9802150F).

There are no major changes to the agreement apart from the clauses regulating pay. The provisions concerning a "low-wage guarantee" continue, and there are no significant changes made to working time regulations. Hence, the employers' side did not succeed in its initial demand for more flexible working time arrangements. The two parties, however, will ask their respective confederations - the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) and the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) - to consider future working time arrangements. The subsequent report will focus on the employees' needs for flexibility during their working life as well as the companies' need for flexibility in the face of increasing competition.

In a joint letter to Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, FF and TBL discussed the Minister of Finance's recent comments about the Government's threat to initiate restrictive measures if the negotiations resulted in pay increases outside the limits on which the 1998 national Budget is based. The parties referred to the fact that the present tax and duty levels form part of the basis of the negotiations, and both parties encouraged the Government not to take any restrictive measures with regard to taxation.

The new agreement will run for two years, with a proviso to negotiate new terms of remuneration in the second year. It is also possible to bring the issue of continuing vocational training (NO9804161F) to the bargaining table during the second year of the agreement - ie during the 1999 settlement. Before the new agreement is made effective, it must be approved by a ballot of trade union members on 13 May 1998.