All of Iceland’s largest labor unions and employer associations are meeting tomorrow to discuss a joint solution on wage issues in the coming months. It is hoped that such a wide-reaching cooperation can prove an important contribution to Icelandic society.
President of ASÍ Gylfi Arinbjörnsson. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
“Our project is to find a solution which can benefit wage earners and the entire nation,” Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, president of the Confederation of Labor (ASÍ), told Fréttabladid.
“It is part of the resistance which we need to get the economy rolling at full speed again in the next two years,” added Thór Sigfússon, chairman of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers (SA).
“We will look towards the government’s plans in regards to community service, the taxation […] system, the level of employment and the welfare system as a whole. All of these factors influence people’s wages,” said Left-Green MP Ögmundur Jónasson, who is also chairman of the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB).
At tomorrow’s meeting the union leaders will form a joint strategy and then discuss it with the authorities. They plan to demand that the wage contracts that were signed earlier this year will be honored.
