In Focus
Getting closer to members could secure union survival
Nordic trade unions must get closer to their members and provide a better service at a lower price. If not the Nordic labour market model will die, warn labour market experts.
”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions
From 2007 to 2011 Swedish trade unions lost 273,000 members. Worst hit was the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the lowest numbers of union membership was found among young people and people of foreign heritage. But unions are not passively watching the fall in membership numbers - on the contrary, they are mobilising to reach old and new members.
How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?
Over the past decade the number of working days lost due to labour conflicts has been very low. Illegal industrial action has nearly disappeared altogether. Meanwhile the pay gap has widened considerably. But now there is fresh disquiet. How do unions deal with these new times?
Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation
Cooperation with the social partners is central when politicians in Norway and Denmark sit down to write new political programmes - be it Denmark’s new government programme or the programme for Norway’s 2012 presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Transport facilities crucial to mining
Nordic politicians are waking up to the possibilities for the mining industry. On 12 October foreign ministers in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council met in the LKAB mine in Kiruna. Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre (right below) and Sweden’s Carl Bildt arrived together on the ore train from Narvik.
Greenland’s red hot labour market
Flemming Enequist stands at the stern of a Targa 37 with 600 horse powers ploughing him through the Godthåp fjord on his way to London Mining’s base camp 150 kilometres north-east of Greenland’s capital Nuuk. He works for the local authority and his job is to tempt young Greenlanders to find work in the mining industry.
Mining equipment: a Nordic niche
Mining equipment manufacturers have been surfing on a wave of high metal prices. With increasing needs for metals in countries like China, India and Brazil, sales and employment figures keep rising.
Welfare model put to the test
The Nordic countries worked their way through the 2008 financial crisis. The welfare model largely shared by the five countries proved effective. Now the world economy is on shaky ground yet again. Can the Nordic model still be a third way between the more brutal Anglo-Saxon model and the lack of state financial control seen in many Mediterranean countries?
Equality driver of Iceland’s success
Higher taxes for those who have the most, protection of the poor and debt relief to businesses and households - all part of the recipe to get a bankrupt state back on track according to the Icelandic experience. You also need a proper post-party tidy-up, get the economy in balance and prevent criminal activity from repeating itself.
An election coloured by crisis
Which politicians can best guide Denmark through the current economic crisis, where more and more Danes fear going bust or end up unemployed? That is the deciding question in the Danish elections this month.
Populists govern in opposition
Support for Finland’s populist True Finns Party has grown after the spring parliamentary elections. It means the new government is forced to take into account the factors behind the party’s growth, and first and foremost their demand for more expansive social policies to support the weakest in society.
Ole Norrback: Border obstacles are all about political will
While Nordic politicians talk about the challenges of globalisation and how to turn the Nordic region into a dynamic region of growth, new border obstacles emerge to complicate lives of citizens and businesses alike.
The ten most serious border obstacles
Border obstacles are not only things that make it difficult for Nordic citizens to settle down and work in a different Nordic country from their own. They are also problems which arise when you move back home, when you fall ill or when you need to draw your pension. NLJ and the Freedom of Movement Forum have drawn up a list of the ten most important border obstacles for working life.
Nordic working group to suggest how to remove border obstacles
A Nordic working group has been commissioned to present solutions for how to remove 39 border obstacles identified as being to the detriment of working life and social insurance systems in the Nordic countries.
New ways of life increase need for Nordic ombudsman
Border obstacles have been on the political agenda since the Common Nordic Labour Market was established in 1954. When one obstacle is removed, another pops up.
Language skills - the key that doesn't always fit
Few statements enjoy such broad political agreement in the Nordic countries as this: language skills are key to both integration and working life. All five countries offer immigrants several hundreds of hours of free language courses, but they have chosen different models and put different demands on students.
Language training boosts self-confidence for Norway's Coke staff
Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway started a successful language training programme in the workplace after a visit to another food and drinks company - the dairy group Tine.
Norwegian food industries offer in-house language courses
Knowing a country's language is important to get a job. But language is also getting more and more important in order to hold on to that job as new technology is introduced, employers demand written documentation and linguistic skills become an increasingly important part of the daily tasks at work.
Free workplace language training in Denmark
All foreigners with permanent residency in Denmark are entitled to Danish language lessons. Many language courses are held in the workplace, and businesses see the benefits of in-house language training.
English - Denmark's future professional language
To get a job in Denmark you must learn Danish, but in the long term both private and public employers must accept English as the professional language, says Foreningen Nydansker (the association for the integration of immigrants into the Danish labour market), which represents 130 small and larger Danish businesses.
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