Hotel and restaurant employees are walking off the job in Norway, and with good reason. The biggest owners of Norwegian hotel chains Stordalen, Thon, Ringnes, and others, have made billions in fortunes in the hotel industry. But those who work there have been left with peanuts, and often in temporary jobs and underplayed.
Despite the boom in Norwegian tourism, hotel and restaurant employees have had real wages decline over the past ten years. But they are not only striking for wages. They are also striking for sick pay. They are striking for that employer should advance their sick pay, so they don’t have to wait months for NAV (Social Security) before they get paid sickness benefits during illness.
The (H) Conservatives last term in government, in the name of savings, cut a well-functioning social benefits scheme, slashed jobs and combined different social services into one agency now called NAV (Social Security). This new agency covers many of the old agencies, like pensions, sickness and unemployment benefits, and can only be accessed online or by telephone (good luck with the waiting times!)
Workers who are sick normally get wages paid for 14 days by the employer and then must seek help from NAV (Social Security). The waiting time for payments can be three months, so if you’re hungry or need to pay your rent you are on your own. Therefore, the hotel workers are striking so that the employers pay the wages fully all the time, and the employers seek the NAV (Social Security) for re-imbursement later. This has a caused a storm in the media.
The strike is still going on at the time of writing just ahead of May 1st (International worker’s day). The KRFU (Christian Folk Party Youth) states that Mayday should no longer be a paid holiday. This attack on workers’ rights has awaked many comments in the media. Perhaps the KRFU needs reminding that there are more people organised in trade unions than go to church. Trade unions in Norway have helped secure key rights and protections for workers, including weekends, overtime pay for work beyond eight hours, collective wage negotiations, annual paid holidays, protection from unfair dismissal, the abolition of child labour, and improved health and safety in the workplace.
Of course, we in EL og IT Forbundet (a Norwegian trade union that organises workers in the electrical, energy, telecoms, and IT sectors), fully support the strikers in the hotel and restaurant industry. When the strike is won, we will smile. Today we have handed out Smile chocolates and statements of support from us in EL og IT Vestland (EL og IT Vestland is the regional organisation of EL og IT Forbundet in Vestland county, Norway).