Unions take termination notices to final talks with employers

Representatives of VR, LÍV and the Professional Associations are heading to final talks with the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (SA) over whether to extend their collective agreements or terminate them, mbl.is reported.

The representatives met Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir at the Prime Minister’s Residence at 1 p.m. on Thursday and then left for SA’s office on Borgartún. “The next step is to go to SA and talk with them,” VR chair Halla Gunnarsdóttir told reporters after the meeting.

Halla said the decision on whether to terminate the agreements now rested with SA. The unions were bringing termination notices to the talks: 43 from the Professional Associations and three from VR.

“They need to meet us part of the way. We have come a very long way, and now they need to do the same, so we can reach an agreement,” she said.

Halla declined to discuss what she and the prime minister had talked about, saying that certain points had been on the table for further development. She said she was satisfied with the prime minister’s involvement and believed she had taken the dispute seriously and done everything she could to resolve it.

Halla said the prime minister understood VR’s and the Professional Associations’ concerns about groups whose pay and conditions had deteriorated recently.