The Norwegian government appointed a committee on 19 March 1999, which will look at the main challenges facing working life in the future. The committee comprises representatives from all the major trade union confederations and the most important employers' organisation, as well as representatives from several Ministries and academic institutions. The main focus of the "working life committee" will be the presumed need for more flexibility in working life. An important element in this process will be to consider the provisions of the 1977 Act relating to Worker Protection and Working Environment, and to explore how the Act might be adapted to meet new requirements for flexibility.
In March 1999, the Norwegian government appointed a tripartite committee with the task of examining the main challenges facing working life in the future. The main focus of the committee's work will be the presumed need for more flexibility, and the controversial issue of overtime work may be put on its agenda.
The Norwegian government appointed a committee on 19 March 1999, which will look at the main challenges facing working life in the future. The committee comprises representatives from all the major trade union confederations and the most important employers' organisation, as well as representatives from several Ministries and academic institutions. The main focus of the "working life committee" will be the presumed need for more flexibility in working life. An important element in this process will be to consider the provisions of the 1977 Act relating to Worker Protection and Working Environment, and to explore how the Act might be adapted to meet new requirements for flexibility.
The committee's mandate is as follows:
to outline and analyse the main challenges facing working life in the next few years in order to develop the kind of flexibility which is in the interest of both employers and employees;
to provide recommendations for further work on flexibility in four main areas of concern - the regulation of working environment, working time, employment protection and workers' participation;
to assess the role of the government and the social partners in this regard and the regulatory role of the legal framework vis-à-vis collective agreements; and
to deliberate on and present the possible consequences of recent EU/EEA initiatives, agreements and Directives for important areas of the committee's work.
The committee is to submit its report before 1 November 1999.
Proposals for the establishment of a similar committee appeared in the government's state Budget proposal for 1999. This committee's task would be to look at, and propose measures to ease, the restrictions on overtime work in the Act relating to Worker Protection and Working Environment (NO9810193N). All the major trade union organisations declined to participate in this committee, because of a general reluctance to see more overtime work in Norway. As a result, the previous Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ragnhild Queseth Haarstad, suggested that overtime work may instead be an issue suitable for consideration by the working life committee.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1999), Committee to examine flexibility in working life, article.
