ASÍ chief hopes unions will move past internal disputes

Finnbjörn Hermannsson, president of the Icelandic Confederation of Labour, says internal disputes in the labour movement are unfortunate but not new, and hopes the current disagreements will soon ease, Morgunblaðið reports.

He said the main point was that the unions had achieved a good result in recent labour negotiations. “An agreement was reached in the labour market that is greatly beneficial to society as a whole, and we should celebrate that too. So I think everyone can be content with their lot,” he told the newspaper.

The disputes have mainly involved the chairs of the Efling and VR unions, who have exchanged sharp statements in recent days, particularly over an agreement reached on Thursday by VR, LÍV and Fagfélögin with the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise.

Efling chair Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir suggested on social media on Sunday that a so-called “drawer agreement” had been made, but did not explain what such an agreement might involve. She declined to comment further to Morgunblaðið.

Bjarni Benediktsson, managing director of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, told mbl.is he was at a loss. “I don’t know what to say. This just seems like a complete figment of the imagination,” he said.

Vilhjálmur Birgisson, chair of the Icelandic Federation of Trade, had earlier described the events leading up to the agreement as a play, saying it contained nothing that had not been on offer three days before it was reached.