Sólveig Anna expects to lose ASÍ vice-president vote

Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, chair of the Efling union, expects to lose tomorrow’s vote for first vice-president of Iceland’s labour confederation, ASÍ, and says she will not join its executive committee if she does. She told mbl.is that the result of a separate vote on reducing the number of vice-presidents reflects the balance of power at the confederation’s congress.

A proposal to cut the number of vice-presidents from three to one received support from 61% of delegates, while 39% opposed it. The proposal failed because constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority.

“This tells us everything about the balance of power at the congress. It also tells us a lot about how tomorrow’s election will go,” Sólveig Anna said. Asked whether she was pleased with the result, she said people could draw their own conclusions.

Sólveig Anna and Halla Gunnarsdóttir, chair of the VR union, are both running for first vice-president. Sólveig Anna said her position was unchanged and that she would stand in the vote. She also noted that Vilhjálmur Birgisson, chair of the Akranes Trade Union, would not sit on the executive committee.

She said the committee would therefore be without Vilhjálmur, whom she described as one of the country’s leading labour figures for nearly two decades, and without the chair of Efling, which she called the country’s largest union of workers and low-paid employees. “That is where the Icelandic Confederation of Labour now stands,” she said.

Sólveig Anna has previously said Efling could consider leaving ASÍ. She said the possibility had been discussed within the union since at least 2022, but she had urged members to remain calm, while acknowledging that developments in recent weeks and the run-up to the congress had made the questions more pressing.