News — Nordic Labour Journal

Finland: Strong collaboration against work-related crime

(Oct 22, 2024) The shadow economy and economic crime, illegal work and the exploitation of labour will be some of the priorities when Finland takes over the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2025.

Improved Nordic labour market statistics provide better insights

(Oct 22, 2024) The Nordic Statistics Database, a collaboration between the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Swedish statistics and research company Statisticon, has undergone huge developments. This will benefit anyone working with comparative Nordic assessment statistics in working life.

Swedish strip club challenges ban on night work

(Oct 22, 2024) Should the employees at the strip club Club Heartbeat be allowed to work all night? No, says the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Yes, says the club’s owner, referring to a new collective agreement that allows exceptions to the Working Hours Act.

New Nuuk airport could provide lift for Greenland’s labour market

(Oct 21, 2024) Direct cross-Atlantic flights to Nuuk could bring even more tourists to Greenland and in the long term encourage Greenlandic youths to get an education and find work in their home country.

Iceland facing watershed moment as PM calls snap elections

(Oct 21, 2024) Iceland is heading for snap elections in November after the right-left coalition of Bjarni Benediktsson collapsed in October over a range of disagreements. Political scientists were not surprised and some predict a watershed moment in Icelandic politics.

Nordic governments' sigh of relief as collective bargaining rights still intact

(Oct 19, 2024) Pilots and cabin crew do not perform work of equal value, thus it is not discriminatory when pilots receive higher travel allowances. This was the somewhat anticlimactic ruling from the EU Court of Justice in a case that Sweden and Denmark feared would set a precedent that could threaten the right to free collective bargaining. That did not happen this time.

Security issues drive political changes in Nordics and EU

(Sep 19, 2024) Sweden has a new minister for employment, Denmark has established a new ministry for civil security and Finland secured one of six Executive Vice Presidents in the European Commission.

Red workers with white sails

(Sep 19, 2024) Sports and politics are closely related in Finland. For more than a century, the country has had double sports clubs – for people on the political left and the political right. Now, the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation is considering its future as fewer and fewer identify as workers and class divisions decrease.

Mixed Nordic reception for EU traineeship directive

(Aug 22, 2024) Once again, the European Commission is proposing regulations on matters that the member states manage best themselves, argues the Swedish parliament. It is now submitting a “yellow card” against the Commission's proposal for an EU directive on better conditions for trainees, put forward in spring 2024.

Young Norwegians increasingly unhappy with working life

(Aug 15, 2024) The 2024 Working Life Barometer shows more people are struggling financially, more fear losing their jobs or becoming ill and many young people are unhappy with working life.

Finnish future report: Youths worry about fitting into the labour market

(May 27, 2024) Finnish school students have become more anxious about their ability to succeed in the future job market. A new future report shows only 53 per cent of young people are enthusiastic about entering the labour market. In 2018 82 per cent said the same.

Danish farmers “exploiting foreign interns”

(May 27, 2024) Danish farmers are using cheap labour from Vietnam, Uganda, Tanzania and India by using an agricultural intern programme. Trade unions have been critical to their working conditions and have secured continued oversight of the programme.

How do you stop the exploitation of foreign labour?

(May 27, 2024) There have always been groups of foreign workers in the Nordic labour markets who are hard to define. Are they coming to work, study or as a cultural exchange? They might be au pairs, interns or berry pickers.

Estonia welcomes Sweden and Finland into Nato

(Apr 29, 2024) One year after Finland joined Nato, Sweden has also become part of the Nato family. This brings them together with Norway, Iceland and Denmark, members since the start in 1949.

When the Nordic open labour market ended overnight

(Apr 29, 2024) This summer, the common Nordic labour market will be 70 years old. But have we really been able to work freely in a neighbouring Nordic country for that whole period of time? The border between Norway and Sweden was closed for 23 months during the Corona pandemic, a new book published by the Svinesund Committee points out.