Norway: Union staff take strike action

A dispute over wages led to 150 workers at Norway’s largest trade union organisation, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), taking strike action.

It is the first time the labour movement has seen its own employees taking this type of industrial action. The strike lasted for 11 days and affected several LO-affiliated unions as well as LO itself.

The dispute, in November 2014, was between LO-affiliated union, the Norwegian Union of Commercial and Office Employees (HK), and the Norwegian Labour Movement’s Employers’ Association (AAF), the organisation behind LO in its role as an employer.

The conflict escalated when HK demanded information on what members of other LO unions earned, amid claims that members of larger unions were paid more.

The strike ended when the parties were able to agree on a new collective agreement.