NITO board recommends leaving AF

In January 1999, the executive board of the Norwegian Society of Engineers (NITO) decided unanimously to recommend that the organisation disassociate from the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (AF). The final decision will be made at an extraordinary meeting of NITO's general council.

In January 1999, the executive board of the Norwegian Society of Engineers (Norges Ingeniørorganisasjon, NITO) decided by a unanimous vote to recommend that the organisation disassociate from the trade union confederation to which it is affiliated, the Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikernes Fellesorganisasjon, AF). The final decision will be made at an extraordinary meeting of the NITO general council. The executive board's decision came as a surprise, since the general council had decided only in November 1998 that NITO was to remain a member of AF (NO9811198N).

According to NITO's executive board, the main reason for the recommendation to disassociate is dissatisfaction with the new organisational structure within AF, which was due to be adopted at AF's general council meeting on 28 January 1999. NITO's president believes that AF's two large public sector federations - Teachers' Union Norway (Lærerforbundet) and the Norwegian Nurses' Association (Norsk Sykepleierforbund) - give priority to the executive positions in the public sector bargaining cartels, rather than to AF's executive board. He thus "fears that AF, to an even greater extent, will become a bargaining cartel for teachers and nurses in the public sector, rather than a confederation", and that "the specific interests of these two organisations will dominate at the expense of common interests". Under the new structure, the heads of the two aforementioned organisations are not nominated to sit on AF's executive board, but will head AF's bargaining committees within the state and municipal sectors.

The president of AF, Magne Sognvoll, has stated that he is puzzled by NITO's reason for disassociating. In addition, Mr Sognvoll does not understand the timing of the decision, and points to the fact that NITO has participated in the process of drawing up a new organisational structure for AF.

If NITO decides to leave AF, this will not be effective before 1 January 2000. NITO plans on participating as usual in the forthcoming pay negotiations in spring 1999. However, NITO will reduce its activities in AF's internal bodies, and concentrate on defining alternatives to its AF membership. It is primarily NITO's members within the public sector who need to participate in a bargaining coalition. As an independent organisation NITO will, formally speaking, be far worse off in public sector bargaining rounds. However, NITO does not fulfil the formal requirements for membership in Akademikerne, the new confederation for academically qualified personnel, which the majority of the organisations which have left AF have joined (NO9807174F).