SA rules out better deal if VR ends agreement

The Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (SA) will not offer the VR union a better collective agreement than the one already in force if VR terminates its stability agreements, mbl.is reported Thursday.

Ragnar Árnason, head of SA’s labour market division, made the statement in an interview with Morgunblaðið’s Dagmál. “If VR terminates its collective agreements, there will be no better agreement than the one it already has,” he said.

The interview also addressed efforts by employers to bring down inflation. SA has urged its members to be cautious about price increases, though Árnason said the organisation must take care because of competition law.

SA wants to meet monthly with trade union leaders when new inflation figures are released, to review developments and discuss what the labour market parties can do together. The aim is to reduce inflation before the next round of collective bargaining and allow interest rates to fall.

A broad coalition of trade unions has decided to keep its agreements in place, while VR’s position has been under consideration. Árnason said a decision by VR to take a different path would be “very negative” and could harm inflation expectations. He noted that markets had responded positively when SA and the coalition reached an agreement.