Area of work
Labour law, collective agreements, waqge negotiations, minimum wage, co-determinations rights.
Current projects
The Government has proposed new regulations for hiring of temporary agency workers. The aim of this project is to map the effects of the new provisions and assess the consequences of the changes for employees, businesses, the labour market and society at large. The project is carried out in collaboration between Fafo and Samfunnsøkonomisk analyse.
This project will firstly, identify best practices and, secondly, contribute to the effort to improve transnational cooperation on the enforcement of posted work. Moreover, it will bring important knowledge to the work of the European Labour Authority (ELA) in supporting national authorities when it comes to enforcement. Our consortium consists of Fafo and the Labour Inspectorates in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Estland, Lithuania and Finland. During our activities, we will also engage national social partners. Our method is a mix of document analysis, interviews and workshops. Through seminars, we will disseminate knowledge about the main objectives of this project.
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND) is a triparty EU Agency that provides knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies. The work is done with the assistance of national correspondents in the EU Member States, and the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion has granted Fafo the task as the national correspondent of Norway,
Since March 2020, both the central and local social dialogue has been put on its’ worst stress test ever.
The industrial actors and institutions are key elements in the Norwegian labour market model. Previous research has shown that these institutions are solid, however, the unionization rate and the collective bargaining coverage in the private sector are decreasing.
The project will provide knowledge on structural reasons why employers and workers join collective organisations and why they do or not reach collective argeements. Colossus also targets policies and strategies to sustain collective organisations. Finally, Colossus studies the implementation of collective organisations and argeements.
In cooperation with the University of Gothenburg, Michigan State University, and MIT, we will examine ongoing restructuring processes related to digitalization of work in Norway, Sweden and the U.S, the effects on labour market institutions and vice versa.
Fafo publications
Articles and book chapters
Completed projects
The aim of the project is to extend the understanding of what a more effective UK labour market enforcement system might look like by learning from other countries’ labour market enforcement landscapes and outcomes (both the good and the bad). This will be done by comparing different national systems.
The aim of the project is to contribute to improved social dialogue and tripartite cooperation in the Czech Republic. Fafo's role in the project will be to contribute with experience from how Norwegian trade unions adapt to new challenges and how they work to recruit new members.
In this project, we will investigate how NAV ensures predictability and equal treatment for service users in more marginal areas of the legal framework. We will do this by using decisions on sickness benefit, nursing benefits and parental benefits for people who combine income as workers, freelancers and self-employed. The purpose is to shed light on the challenges that arise for supervisors and case officers in NAV in the process from the user's first contact with NAV until a final decision is made.
The project will evaluate the regulation three-shift rotas as regulated in the Working Environment Act § 10-4 (6).
This project aims to bring forward new knowledge on social security schemes for solo self-employed, whether solo self-employ should be entitled to income security and if so, how such a scheeme could look like.
The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) has asked for an analysis of possible political trends up to 2035, and the consequences for public administration. One challenge in the years to come is how to maintain a sustainable welfare state.
In this project, we will examine employers' attitudes towards, and motivation for organizing in employers' associations and entering into collective agreements. Among other things, we will investigate whether there are systematic differences between companies with and without collective agreements and organized and unorganized companies.
In this project Fafo is to deliver a report to the Czech research institute RILSA on flexible forms of employment in Norway. This report will be part of a comparative report on this issue to the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic.
Throughout Norway’s history, it has used social dialogue and tripartism to achieve better social and economic outcomes that benefit society as a whole. In this project we will study this in a historical context as well as look to the future of social dialogue. This project will end out in a report to the ILO 100 anniversary in the spring of 2019.
The last couple of years have seen increasing attention to a variety of challenges and issues pertaining to temporary employment and labour hire.
Major changes in technology, economic contexts, workforces, and the institutions of work have come in ebb and flow since well before the first industrial revolution in the 18th century. Yet, many argue that the changes we are currently facing are different, and that the rise of digitalized production will entirely transform our ways and views of work.
The aim of the project is to map the amount of local special wage agreements in the municipal sector and what they regulate. The emphazise is put on agreements that are not established on the basis of central special wage agreements.
Worker protection regulation for posted workers in the EU is seriously inadequate.
This project aims to identify and analyze players in sharing economy in Norway, and will focus particularly on the services which involves provision of labour.
Legislation that aims to ensure equal treatment for temporary agency workers came into force in Norway in 2013. Fafo will on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs find out whether these regulations are complied with. The project aims to look into how the regulations are understood and put into practice, whether companies try to bypass the regulations, how the regulations are enforced and whether new measures are required.
Experiences with joint and several liabilities as measures to enforce general applicable agreements
As of 1 January 2010 joint liability for salaries, etc. was introduced in areas where collective agreements have been made generally applicable. The purpose of this project is to evaluate this scheme. Key issues will be the extent of cases in which the joint liability has been applied, how these issues have evolved, the actors’ experiences with and economic consequences of the scheme. We will also examine whether shop stewards perceive to have the necessary knowledge and resources to assist union members.