All Articles — Nordic Labour Journal

One in five construction workers in Sweden are posted

(Sep 12, 2013) Over 18,000 workers were this spring posted by companies from other countries to work in Sweden, most of them in the construction industry. The number of posted workers in that industry was nearly as high as one fifth of all the working members of the Byggnads union – Sweden’s main union for construction workers. These are figures from the first comprehensive attempt at mapping the posted workers in Sweden.

Christina Colclough is fascinated by the Nordic cooperation model

(Sep 09, 2013) After living in the Nordic countries for nearly 30 years, British-Danish Christina Colclough, the new Secretary General at the Council of Nordic Trade Unions, NFS, is still fascinated by the Nordic welfare and labour market model. It fuels innovation, competitiveness and productivity, she says.

Editorial: Job engagement is pure gold

(Jun 19, 2013) How do you achieve job engagement and work commitment? In this summer edition of the Nordic Labour Journal our writers, experts and researchers explore what happens with job engagement when work pressure increases. Does job engagement really equal increased productivity? Is job engagement pure gold?

Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs: The importance of writing off debts

(Jun 19, 2013) Eygló Harðardóttir is the Minister of Social Affairs in Iceland’s new government. The low number of female ministers and women in parliamentary committees has created heated debate. Most committees have an uneven gender distribution, which goes against the law. But the new minister is not particularly worried. She reckons the number of women will rise soon.

Munch in the canteen – for Freia’s workers only the best was good enough

(Jun 19, 2013) Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream created art history when it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2012 for €91,033,826. The Scream is also part of the Anniversary Exhibition Munch 150, because Munch didn’t paint just one, but often several pictures of the same motif. The anniversary also features the Freia Frieze, which Munch painted for the workers’ canteen at the Freia chocolate factory in Oslo.

Editorial: What to do with the youth?

(May 23, 2013) Make no mistake: youth unemployment is foremost in Nordic politicians’ minds. Especially NEETs, young people not in education, employment or training. They make up between five and ten percent of Nordic youths. But what will politicians do for them?

Bjarne Brøndbo, the employer who didn’t say no after the first attempt

(May 22, 2013) He stood there with his cigaret behind his ear, asking: Bjarne, where can I smoke? “That was the first thing he said to me,” says employer Bjarne Brøndbo.

Editorial: Bad working conditions under pressure

(Apr 16, 2013) What do you do if your colleague works twice as long at half the pay that you get? There are trades and individuals who gravely exploit cheap labour, and in times of crisis many will accept a lot in order to get a job. What is being done in the Nordic region to make sure labour market rules are being followed? The fight against social dumping is this month’s theme in the Nordic Labour Journal.

ILO: Europe’s youth must get jobs and regain their confidence

(Apr 16, 2013) The ILO will help put the youth guarantee into practice and make sure €6bn granted by the EU will be used to get Europe’s youth into work. The ILO will play a stronger role in helping crisis-hit European countries to improve the economic, social and political consequences of the crisis and to reestablish trust in the countries.

Greenland’s new leader inspired by Mandela

(Apr 16, 2013) Greenland politics is literally on the move after the 12 March elections. Boxes, lever arch files and personal belongings are strewn around corridors of the devolved government in the centre of Nuuk, while newly elected members move into their new offices, and meeting rooms are changing owners.

Editorial: The many reasons for gender equality

(Mar 08, 2013) The Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer, the third in as many years, shows progress for women’s representation in Nordic power positions by one percentage point in 2012 in relation to a 50/50 gender distribution.

Katrín Jakobsdóttir - party leader during times of change

(Mar 08, 2013) She is young, skilled and popular and has just been elected party leader for Iceland’s Left-Green Movement (VG). She will lead her party into parliamentary elections at the end of April, under what for Iceland are unusual circumstances were the former party leader is one of the party’s strongest candidates in the election.

Editorial: Labour migrants head North

(Feb 08, 2013) Iro came first. She arrived from Greece to study. Then the crisis hit, Iro found a job and stayed. Now her brother Dimitris has joined her to look for work in Norway. Do they represent a wave of job seekers from crisis-hit southern Europe to the Nordic region, we wonder in this month’s theme.

Anniken Huitfeldt: Minister of Labour with an eye for equality

(Feb 04, 2013) ”More people can do some work” says Anniken Huitfeldt when I meet Norway’s new Minister of Labour just as we enter 2013. There are parliamentary elections in September. So where will she make her mark in the next six months; where does she want to make a difference as Minister of Labour in Jens Stoltenberg’s government?

Climate changes arctic working life

(Jan 28, 2013) The climate is changing much faster in the Arctic than researchers had predicted. This also means great challenges for working life in an area where between four and nine million people live, depending on how you define it. The Arctic Frontiers conference has been staged in Tromsø for the eighth time.

Editorial: Cooperation under pressure

(Dec 14, 2012) Whatever happened to the Nordic negotiation model? people asked as news broke that SAS employees were told to accept longer hours for less pay or see the airline go bust.

Workplace cooperation key to Nordic model's success

(Dec 14, 2012) Many wonder how the Nordic countries manage so well through the economic crisis. It is often said it is because of their economic policies, yet the reality is more complex. This year marks 50 years since Norway’s employees (organised in LO) and employers (organised in NHO) began their cooperation project. Bjørn Gustavsen takes a look at how autonomy and workplace learning became central to the project:

Work environment gives Nordic growth sectors competitive edge

(Dec 14, 2012) How can the Nordic region face the challenges of growing globalisation? Where is the potential for growth and rising employment? Nordic researchers recommend measures which could help authorities and businesses make better use of growth opportunities.

Editorial: Changing media and redundant journalists

(Nov 15, 2012) Are the big media corporations panicking in the face of changing media habits when redundancies spread across the industry? Falling classifieds revenues, budget cuts and fewer readers are shaking Nordic newspaper houses. Jobs are cut across the board and senior writers take early retirement, bidding a sad farewell after serving society for many years. What is happening?

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson: I believe the future is Nordic

(Nov 12, 2012) As the EU focuses intensively on the Euro and other economic problems, it has never been more important to intensify Nordic cooperation says the new President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson.