VR union vows not to yield in wage talks

VR chair Halla Gunnarsdóttir says her union and its partners will not give ground in negotiations with the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, mbl.is reports. VR, LÍV and Fagfélögin, a group of unions, are negotiating separately from the Broad Coalition, which recently agreed to extend its collective agreements with the employers’ group.

VR, LÍV and Fagfélögin have authority to terminate their agreements on Thursday if the employers’ group does not make a proposal in return. Representatives met at the Karphúsið negotiating venue on Tuesday evening, after the unions’ negotiating teams had waited for talks to resume during the day.

“Our talks with the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise will continue tomorrow. This does not change our fundamental position,” Gunnarsdóttir said. “We are not prepared to lock our people into pay cuts throughout next year, and we have been very clear about that.”

She noted that the only change to the Broad Coalition’s agreement with the employers’ group was a one-month reduction in its term. The coalition’s agreement was reached in three parts, she said, and the groups involved had found common ground on what was needed to sustain the agreements. That position was “quite far” from what VR and its partners believed was necessary.

Gunnarsdóttir said the government had taken a more active role this time and had given assurances considered important. But she said the unions’ negotiating counterpart was the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, which needed to meet them halfway. “We will not give an inch on that,” she said.