Det strategiske instituttprogrammet på Fafo
| Fafo-paper 1997:23 | 1998 | 44 p | NOK 70,- |
Employment contracts, wages, working hours and work organisation are all aspects that have strong impact on both the competitiveness of an enterprise or even the working of the economy in general, as well as on the well-being of employees. Collective bargaining today, however, is not playing a major role in introducing flexibility in these areas in many countries. In order to make collective bargaining more instrumental in the introduction of such flexibility, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has started a project where country reports form an important part of the analytical basis. This paper presents the Norwegian experience.
Preface
Introduction
Historical background
Labour market organisations
Employers’ organisations
Trade unions
1 The types of flexibility introduced
1.1 Structural flexibility at the macro level
1.2 Flexibility in employment contracts
Part-time work
Temporary work
Temporary help services
Distance work
1.3 Flexibility in remuneration
Collective bargaining
Youth wages
Performance pay
Benefits for the unemployed
Overall developments
1.4 Working hours
Annualisation
Work sharing
Overtime
Leave provisions
Flexible retirement age
1.5 Job demarcations, externalisation etc.
Vocational standardisation
Out-sourcing
Inter-firm networking
2 The position of the social partners on flexibility
2.1 Government policy
The “solidarity alternative”
Regulating flexibility
Restructuring the public sector
Political differences
2.2 Employers’ policy
New approach
Working hours
Main bargaining issues
Other issues
2.3 Trade union approach
Conflicts and differences among workers
3 The sources of flexibility
3.1 Institutional sources
3.2 Individual and collective regulations
Individual labour law
Collective labour law
Collective agreements
Industrial relations in the workplace
3.3 Hierarchical order
3.4 Government encouragement
3.5 Attitudes and (dis-)agreements between the parties
4 The process of collective bargaining
4.1 Levels of collective bargaining
4.2 Centralised bargaining
Other areas
Industrial action
4.3 Local bargaining
4.4 Other co-operative arrangements
5 Prospects
5.1 Trade-offs
5.2 Commitments
Postscript, December 1997
New government
New confederation
Abbreviations
References
Appendix
