VR weighs ending wage agreements before Thursday deadline

VR’s board will decide whether to terminate its wage agreements unless employers provide an adequate response, mbl.is reports. The deadline to give notice is Thursday afternoon, October 8.

The union’s board and its negotiating committee will meet today after a meeting of its representative council, which advises the board. The council meeting is due to begin at 5:30 p.m. VR says the discussions will focus on the failure of conditions underpinning the agreements and on next steps.

VR, LÍV and Fagfélögin have repeatedly proposed solutions to keep the agreements in force, but say the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (SA) has not shown a willingness to address the situation facing workers.

VR chair Halla Gunnarsdóttir said large groups of the union’s members had seen their real wages fall over the past two years because general pay rises under the agreements were below inflation. She also said charges on families with children had increased.

Halla said VR presented SA with an analysis of the problem and sought moderate adjustments for its members, but the proposal was rejected. On September 24, the unions submitted new proposals that included provisions to take effect if the decline in purchasing power continued. Halla said VR had received no response from SA in the 11 days since.

She said municipalities and the government had signalled willingness to help, and that a number of companies had taken steps to support keeping the agreements in force. Halla accused SA of failing to offer a solution and said members could not be expected to accept further real-wage cuts for another 18 months.