New union confederation established

On 1 January 2002, a new trade union confederation, known as UHO, was established in Norway. The new confederation, made up of five mainly public sector unions for higher-qualified staff, will represent its 215,000 members in the 2002 collective bargaining round.

On 1 January 2002, a new trade union confederation was formally established in Norway. The new organisation, Utdanningsgruppenes Hovedorganisasjon, (UHO) has approximately 215,000 members. The organisation was founded by: the two teachers' unions -the Teachers' Union Norway (Lærerforbundet) and the Norwegian Union of Teachers (Norsk Lærerlag, NL) - which merged on 1 January 2002 to form the Norwegian Education Union (Utdanningsforbundet) (NO0110105N); the Norwegian Nurses' Association (Norsk Sykepleierforbund, NSF); and the Norwegian Police Federation (Politiets Fellesforbund, PF). The Norwegian Association of Physiotherapists (Norske Fysioterapeuters Forbund, NFF) and the Norwegian Association of Occupational Therapists (Norsk Ergoterapeutforbund) have also joined the new confederation. UHO will represent its member organisations in the forthcoming collective bargaining in the public sector in the spring of 2002.

Background

The establishment of the new confederation follows turbulence witnessed in recent years in the Norwegian trade union movement. In the aftermath of splits from the Confederation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikernes Hovedorganisasjon, AF) that occurred in the latter part of the 1990s (NO9711133F), an attempt was made by the remaining AF unions and the Confederation of Vocational Unions (Yrkesorganisasjonenes Sentralforbund, YS) to merge the two organisations. In the summer of 2000 this attempt failed, and the dissolution of AF soon followed (NO0007199F). At the same time plans for a new confederation were made public, behind which stood the two largest AF unions, Teachers' Union Norway and NSF, as well as two independent unions, NL and PF (as noted above, the two teachers' unions subsequently merged) (NO0009106F). After a period of deliberation and organisational discussion within each of the organisations, the new confederation was established at a founding meeting on 10 December 2001. At the meeting, the former AF-affiliated unions for physiotherapists and occupational therapists were also included in the confederation.

The new confederation

UHO membership is open to unions representing groups of employees with education at university and advanced-college levels. In order to be accepted as an affiliate, organisations will have to satisfy certain criteria, including possession of their own secretariats and strike funds.

Anders Folkestad, until the end of 2001 leader of Teachers' Union Norway, was elected leader of UHO, which is to be a full-time post. The new confederation also has a representative committee, which will meet once a year to draw up the general framework for the organisation's activities. In addition, there is a board of representatives which meets on a more regular and frequent basis. The organisational rules stipulate that no single member organisation alone shall enjoy a majority in the ruling bodies. This is important, since the Norwegian Education Union will make up as much as 60% of the membership of the new confederation.

UHO's secretariat will consist of approximately 10 people whose main responsibilities are: the day-to-day running of the organisation; preparation for collective bargaining; deliberations; and information. The implication of this is that UHO will have only limited personnel resources available. However, the intention is to take advantage of the existing capacity of its member organisations.

One of the main tasks of the new confederation will be to engage in bargaining in the public sector. In both the state and municipal sectors negotiations are carried out by the main confederations, and not by individual unions. Bargaining committees are established for each sector, in which UHO, according to law or agreements, now enjoys the right to bargain.

In its policy platform, UHO emphasises the improvement of member groups' wage conditions by 'directing efforts at the creation of wage and working conditions in which the value of education, competence and responsibility are central ingredients'. The platform further stipulates that 'all instruments of bargaining will be utilised to this end'. UHO also emphasises its intention to combat privatisation of public services, as well as maintaining public quality standards in those cases where privatisations takes place.

Commentary

The creation of the new confederation follows a long period of turbulence among Norwegian unions. AF, which organised groups with education at university and advanced college level, was riddled with internal tension during the 1990s, over issues including wage policy. The internal problems weakened AF's negotiating strength, and eventually led to an organisational split in 1997. There were tensions throughout the organisation, for example: between groups with advanced college education and those with higher university education; between groups with a desire to see collective wage formation and groups wanting individual wage formation; or between nurses and doctors over professional duties and responsibilities in hospitals. UHO, on the other hand, seems to embrace groups that are closer to each other with regard to education, wage policy interests and issues such as privatisation and the social responsibilities of the public sector. There are also indications to suggest that the new confederation will be relatively restrictive in terms of admitting new member organisations, thereby avoiding too many conflicting interests and an overly diversified membership.

UHO has so far given no indications of its future relationship with the other three main union confederations. There are few indications to suggest that a cooperative venture with Akademikerne is a viable option for the new confederation. Akademikerne was created in 1997 by organisations leaving AF (NO0110105N) and pursues a much more decentralised wage formation policy than the other union confederations.

Similarly, a cooperative venture with Norway's largest union confederation, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO), is also an unlikely option at the moment. NL, the largest UHO member union with 90,000 members, long had a cooperation agreement with LO, and also pursued joint negotiations with LO. This long-established cooperative venture has, however, been weakened by the creation of the merged teachers's union and the new confederation. Furthermore, the other member organisations of UHO have traditionally had reservations about LO and its wage policy.

A final alternative for UHO may be to enter into cooperation with the Confederation of Vocational Unions ( YS). However, this is not without obstacles, especially in relation to the diverging wage policy interests of the two confederations. The most likely approach, at least in the short-term, is thus case-by-case cooperation between the four confederations, rather than more established cooperative constellations.

The forthcoming wage settlements in spring 2002 will pose significant challenges to the new confederation and its members. New agreements are to be negotiated (and a new bargaining structure established) for employees in the public hospitals transferred from the municipal sector bargaining area to the semi-public NAVO area (NO0108139F). Most of the unions in the hospital sector have agreed to postpone this issue to the next scheduled wage negotiations, which will take place in spring 2002. However, the UHO-affiliated nurses union, NSF, is currently organising strikes in the hospital sector in an attempt to deal with the issue now (NO0201114N). (Kristine Nergaard, FAFO Institute of Applied Social Sciences)