Workers to demand shorter week in next wage talks

Workers in Iceland’s general labour market are the only group in the country’s workforce not to have a shorter working week, Vilhjálmur Birgisson, head of the Federation of General and Special Workers, told Morgunblaðið.

He said shortening the working week would be a key demand when collective agreements expire at the turn of 2027 and 2028. He acknowledged that the change would carry a cost because workers put in many hours.

A report by the minister of finance and economic affairs puts the state’s annual cost of shorter hours for shift workers at 6.9 billion krónur, and the total cost since the change took effect at about 35 billion krónur. Birgisson said the figures did not surprise him, as substantial costs in care work had been expected.

Bjarni Benediktsson, managing director of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, said the high cost figures had surprised him. He said the public sector had gone much further than the private sector and that this would need to be taken into account in upcoming wage negotiations.