All Articles
Editorial: Equality means sustainability
(Sep 07, 2011) Economic crisis, political earthquakes and unprecedented terror in the midst of the Nordic region. It has all impacted the Nordic countries. “Crisis test the strength of the Nordic welfare models” is this month’s Theme. One important question pops up: must the welfare models be adapted to avoid growing differences within the countries?
Iceland’s Gudbjartur Hannesson puts people’s welfare first during the crisis
(Sep 07, 2011) We have learnt that a state welfare system is immensely important and a prerequisite for a healthy working life, says Island’s Minister for Welfare Gudbjartur Hannesson. That is why protecting our welfare system has been given top priority during the crisis.
Riots highlight Manchester’s unemployed underclass
(Sep 07, 2011) What made hundreds of youths run amok in Manchester and other UK cities in August? Debate has been fierce in the weeks following riots that cost five lives and millions of pounds in damages. The political right blames a moral collapse, the left blames budget cuts and social deprivation. In Manchester the riots have led to a renewed focus on the large and growing gap between the rich and poor.
Editorial: A common Nordic labour market but not common public goods
(Jun 17, 2011) What would happen in the Øresund region if 20 to 30,000 commuters across the bridge between Sweden and Denmark decided it was time to take action?
TCO's Eva Nordmark: unions must be relevant to our time
(Jun 16, 2011) "The union's role is to be relevant in today's working life, which is considerably different from the time when my parents started working. Yet the basic values remain the same. As always the union is about the dream of freedom, development and having the chance to live a good life," says Eva Nordmark, newly elected chairperson for TCO.
Editorial: Language - a source for joint understanding
(May 10, 2011) "Have you heard your employer use the word 'safety' and do you know what that word means?" asks the language teacher at Vestegnen's Language and Competence Centre south of Copenhagen. The quote touches on the depth of the challenges posed by not understanding a language.
Norway's Rigmor Aasrud to uncover the myth of a uniform Nordic region
(May 10, 2011) Norway's Cooperation Minister Rigmor Aasrud wants to engage the Nordic countries' grass roots when Norway takes on the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2012.
Nokia's scraps mobile ecosystem in fight to survive
(May 02, 2011) Nokia is shedding thousands of staff world-wide - the equivalent of one in ten workers within its mobile telephone business. The move is part of Nokia's attempt to remain in profit and improve the growth outlook within a completely new technological ecosystem.
Editorial: Mobile labour creates turbulence
(Apr 07, 2011) "I have freed my own work from the shackles of time and space," says the head of Microsoft Finland in our piece on open plan office spaces. He commutes in time and space between his virtual and real mobile workplace.
Temporary work agencies: misfits in Nordic working life?
(Apr 07, 2011) This year will see the implementation of the EU directive on temporary agency work which is meant to improve labour mobility and facilitate the growth in temporary work agencies. It will also lay down demands for equal treatment of permanent staff and workers recruited through temporary work agencies.
The employers' voice in the European dialogue
(Apr 07, 2011) Will the social partners reach agreement on the working time directive like they managed to come to an agreement on work-related stress? Initial talks have begun but nobody knows how it will end. The social dialogue is nevertheless playing a part in Europe's policy development.
Editorial: Vision or reality?
(Mar 07, 2011) Will Danes vote for a female prime minister in the coming election? In real life? That would be the first time.
Motherhood vs career logic rules
(Mar 07, 2011) We're all equal now, right? More women than ever get an education, there are new ideals for what it means to be a father and family-friendly solutions have changed the framework for how mothers' and fathers' adapt to work and family life.
Challenge to Finland's health sector "not due to lack of resources”
(Mar 07, 2011) Finland's health and social care sector is facing major challenges. But this is not about a lack of resources. Systems and processes need an overhaul to allow doctors and nurses to work with what they have been trained for: to take care of people, Finland's Minister of Social Affairs and Health Juha Rehula tells Nordic Labour Journal.
Editorial: The need to limit working life without boundaries
(Feb 11, 2011) Mixing work and free time can have unwanted consequences. Nordic Labour Journal puts the spotlight on our portable working hours. How will we deal with the grey zone between work and free time?
Working hours: a hot topic for the Labour Inspection Authority director
(Feb 11, 2011) Ingrid Finboe Svendsen's dream is to create a popular drive for a better work environment. The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority has often been in the spotlight for dealing with cases of social dumbing, but the Authority's director wants to showcase the full scope of what the organisation does. And this is where Facebook comes in.
Work is top priority in integration of Sweden's new arrivals
(Feb 09, 2011) As soon as newly arrived refugees are granted permission to stay in Sweden the process of getting them established in society begins. The goal is to cut the time it takes to get settled into the labour market. Those who want to can use personal guides who'll help them with work and integration.
Hillevi Engström: more social responsibility needed in working life
(Nov 24, 2010) Once the leading star of Swedish Police, Hillevi Engström is now in charge of whipping working life into line. She wants to use her role as Minister for Employment to challenge businesses to take social responsibility. In return she offers economical incentives and an improved education system.
Will Lex Laval work?
(Nov 02, 2010) On 9 September the Swedish Building Workers' Union (Byggnads) took industrial action against a Lithuanian company building a school in Höllviken in Southern Sweden. The union demanded the company paid its Lithuanian workers according Swedish salary agreements. Are we heading towards a new Laval ruling?
Guðbjartur Hannesson - Iceland's Minister for Welfare
(Oct 03, 2010) Guðbjartur Hannesson is Iceland's new minister in charge of merging all welfare issues into one ministry. He must do this while the country's budget is cut to the bone in the wake of the 2008 crash which left the country's economy in ruins. The Ministry of Welfare must be up and running by the end of the year.
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