On 16 November 2000, Jens Ulltveit-Moe was elected as president and Gerd Kjellhaug Berge as vice-president of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO), Norway's main employers' organisation. Immediately after taking up office, Mr Ulltveit-Moe caused controversy in the trade union movement when he defended lucrative management share option schemes while at the same time called for a tightening of the rules on sick pay. Both are highly contested issues in Norway at present, and important matters of concern for the unions.
In November 2000, the new president of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) started his term of office controversially when he defended lucrative management share option schemes while at the same time calling for a tightening of the rules on sick pay.
On 16 November 2000, Jens Ulltveit-Moe was elected as president and Gerd Kjellhaug Berge as vice-president of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO), Norway's main employers' organisation. Immediately after taking up office, Mr Ulltveit-Moe caused controversy in the trade union movement when he defended lucrative management share option schemes while at the same time called for a tightening of the rules on sick pay. Both are highly contested issues in Norway at present, and important matters of concern for the unions.
The new president, who succeeds Leif Frode Onarheim, is widely regarded as being well suited for the job because of his background as an international investor and a major industrial owner with experience in the maritime industries, one of Norway's key sectors. On entering office, he stated that his main objective as president of NHO will be to safeguard and improve "value creation" in Norway. In order to achieve this goal, claimed Mr Ulltveit-Moe, there is a need to maintain wage moderation through the "solidarity alternative" (the long-standing pact between the social partners and the government, stressing moderate wage growth and employment) and to tighten the present sick pay scheme. There is growing unease about the significant increases in the level of sickness absence (NO0009103N), and the parallel problem of an ever-increasing labour shortage in many sectors. Mr Ulltveit-Moe argues in favour of changing the present sick pay scheme with a view to making employees bear a greater share of the financial burden of sickness absence. He has signalled that he will fight hard for the implementation of the proposed changes to the present sick pay scheme outlined in a report from a public committee issued in September 2000 (NO0010109F). NHO has frequently placed changes to the sick pay scheme on the agenda in recent years.
Mr Ulltveit-Moe also defended increasing remuneration packages and share options for managers while calling for pay moderation among ordinary wage earners, thus further provoking trade unions. In recent years, the principle of moderation has been breached during wage settlements, and one of the reasons given for this by unions has been the unprecedented increase in management salaries and option schemes (NO0001174F) . The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) has on several previous occasions pledged to combat disproportionate growth in management pay in comparison with that of other workers, because this is seen as a threat to the policy of pay moderation pursued by the social partners over the past decade. The new NHO president argues that Norwegian companies have to be generous with regard to management salaries in order to attract the best and most highly qualified managers, and defends remuneration in the form of options and bonuses on the grounds that they are, by and large, result-oriented. However, he is less happy about the widespread use of so-called "golden handshakes", and wants to see them reduced, especially in cases where managers go from one management position directly to another (quoted in the Aftenposten newspaper on 16 November).
The presidency of NHO is not a full-time post. The day-to-day running of the organisation is the responsibility of the director general, who is also responsible for NHO's participation in wage negotiations. The presidency is nevertheless an important post, in that it includes chairing NHO's labour committee. With the election of Mr Ulltveit-Moe as president, NHO has within a short period of time acquired a new president and a new director general (NO9810195N). So far there are no indications to suggest that the two leaders will change NHO's support for the existing cooperative venture on incomes policy, or the organisation's policies in general.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2000), New NHO president cause controversy, article.
