Halla questions media focus on ASÍ vice-president proposal

Halla Gunnarsdóttir, chair of VR, has questioned why media coverage of the 47th congress of ASÍ, Iceland’s labour confederation, focused largely on a proposal to reduce the number of vice-presidents. She spoke to mbl.is.

The proposal, put forward by ASÍ’s central board, would have cut the number of vice-presidents from three to one. It received 61% support and 39% opposition, but failed because it required a two-thirds majority. Halla supported the change.

“It seems very unusual to me that nearly 300 people from all over the country, with different jobs and backgrounds, come together to discuss the future of labour issues, and all the media discussion centres on a central board proposal about the number of vice-presidents,” she said. She also questioned why the debate was not taking place in the congress hall.

Halla said the vote took place under the threat that Efling would leave ASÍ if the result did not suit its chair, Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir. She said a contribution the previous day from Luc Triangle, general secretary of the international trade union federation, had reminded delegates of the movement’s broad mission. “I think the most important thing is to keep our focus on that,” she said.

Asked whether the result was disappointing, Halla said she had backed reducing the number of vice-presidents. She had served as a vice-president herself and said the role, under the rules, was only to stand in when the president was absent. She said there had been no need for the second or third vice-president to do so, and that the role had in practice involved scheduling two short meetings a month.