Higher earners get more seats at Iceland’s labour congress

Higher-paid groups have greater representation at the Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) congress under its current allocation rules, union leader Vilhjálmur Birgisson told mbl.is, warning that a proposed review may now stall.

Birgisson, chair of the Federation of General and Special Workers in Iceland (SGS), said the proposal could “fall asleep for a long time” after delegates approved an amendment put forward by the VR union at ASÍ’s recent congress.

The original proposal called on ASÍ’s central board to commission independent experts to review the rules and submit recommendations within six months. Under VR’s amendment, the issue was referred to the board without instructions to involve independent experts or a deadline.

Birgisson said Arnar Guðmundsson, who introduced the amendment on behalf of VR, had said the union was uncomfortable with the process for handling the issue having already been set out.

Representation is currently based not on the number of union members but on annual work equivalents, calculated from membership dues. Because dues reflect members’ wages, higher-paid groups generate more work equivalents and receive greater weight. As a result, a union with lower-paid members can have fewer congress delegates than an equally large union whose members earn more, even when members of both work full time.

Birgisson said the system conflicted with the labour movement’s principles of equality. He said SGS and Efling together have nearly half of ASÍ’s full members but around 44 per cent of the votes at its congress. Based on membership numbers, he said, SGS would have about 14 more delegates and Efling four more.

SGS had 72 delegates representing just over 40,000 members, while the Federation of Icelandic Trade (LÍV), whose members are mostly from VR, had 98 delegates for about 44,000 members, Birgisson said. He also said that one delegate represents about 250 members in higher-paid groups, compared with 556 members among manual workers.

Birgisson argued that ASÍ’s central board was not a neutral body to decide the issue because it was itself part of the imbalance. He compared the allocation system to giving voters greater influence in national or local elections according to how much tax they pay.

Tags: Iceland, labour unions, workers’ representation