News 2014
Fewer deaths at work
The number of deaths in Nordic workplaces continues to fall, according to preliminary figures collected by NLJ for last year from Finland, Sweden and Denmark. But there has been an increase in fatal accident in Norway, a trend which has repeated itself for the past three years.
Recommendations ready for new Danish employment policy
There will be major changes to measures aimed at unemployed people on benefit if the Danish government follows the recently published recommendations from the so-called Carsten Koch committee. A new employment policy is expected to be ready before the summer recess.
Renewed focus on Danish working environments
Denmark’s construction industry will fight to limit workplace accidents. It’s the latest in a range of government initiatives aimed at improving the physical work environment.
Mikael Sjöberg new head of the Swedish Public Employment Service
The Swedish Public Employment Service has a new Director-General. Mikael Sjöberg comes from the post as Director-General at the Swedish Work Environment Authority. The Employment Service’s former head was fired in August last year.
Unique judgement - managers guilty of employee’s suicide
In Sweden two managers at a social services centre were found guilty in February of causing an employee’s depression and suicide. The judgement is unique. Never before has an employer been found guilty of causing psychological illness, and regardless of whether it is overturned on appeal this judgement serves as a wake-up call for Swedish employers.
Agreement on main contractor liability stopped strike
A bit of history was written in the evening of 31 March when a new collective agreement was reached on main contractor liability within the Swedish construction industry. It prevented strike action with hours to spare and will see the employers’ organisation the Swedish Construction Federation (BI) establishing a fund to guarantee wages for subcontractors’ workers.
What about the next 60? New report predicts continued success for the Nordic model
“We need to make adjustments going forward, but if we do we have every chance of succeeding,” says the Managing Director of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, Vesa Vihriälä. He is just finishing a report on the challenges facing the Nordic welfare model in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Conflict over part time labour stops Swedish trains
A train strike in southern Sweden has put renewed focus on how competition for public contracts affects the rights of the contractors’ employees, and to which extent the procuring authority can interfere in their working and employment conditions.
Iceland: fewer take paternity leave
When Iceland introduced paid paternity leave in 2000 it was a huge success. New fathers welcomed the opportunity to stay at home with their children. But the trend has not continued, and fathers’ income opportunities have worsened. Families can no longer afford the cut in earnings.
The Laval judgement: Swedish government wants more power to unions
The Swedish government says the EU adjustment went too far when Swedish legislation was changed as a result of the EU Court of Justice’s judgement in the Laval case.
Arch rivals form coalition government in Greenland
The Siumut party secured a narrow victory in Greenland’s general elections and has formed a government with the two centre-right parties Atassut and the Democrats. The latter was a particular surprise choice.
The Nordic model: From Reykjavik to Paris
“The Nordic countries need to stay on course. They will be an example to other countries, a reference point, particularly when it comes to the harmony between growth and really good social standards,” says Christian Kastrop, newly appointed Director for the Policy Studies Branch at the OECD’s economy department.
Iceland initiates a Nordic welfare watch
As part as its presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Iceland has initiated a research project to look into the possibilities and interest for creating a Nordic welfare watch. Researchers in the Nordic countries will work together until 2016 to map how economic crisis influence welfare and how it can be made sustainable also during bad times.
Researchers: Employment has become more important than job content
Working life has been on the agenda during the Swedish general election campaign, and especially unemployment. More jobs are needed. Yet visions for the content of those jobs have not figured politically — an inconsistency highlighted by a group of researchers at a recent meeting in Stockholm.
Stefan Löfven (S): Sweden will be a global role model
Prime Minister Löfven called his new government feminist as he presented it in parliament on Friday. It has 23 government ministers — 12 women and 11 men plus the Prime Minister — and is a coalition comprising the Social Democrats and the Green Party. Work was top of Löfven’s speech.
Social Europe under pressure
There’s a conflict between the EU’s social ambitions and national autonomy, not least when it comes to the labour market, Sweden’s newly elected Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson told a seminar in Stockholm on 22 October.
Make room for creativity in the workplace
Forget sending employees to courses in creativity and focus on creative breaks during the working day instead. That is one of many pieces of advice from Denmark’s new professor of creative leadership, businessman and billionaire Christian Stadil.
OECD: Wage cuts will not create jobs
Industrialised countries have reached the limit for how much wages can be cut. Since the start of the economic crisis, wages have fallen in real terms for half of all employees in OECD countries. Further cuts could be counter-productive and damage growth.
Jobs top of the agenda at meeting of Nordic prime minsters
Removing border obstacles and increasing investments to create jobs are some of the visions shared by the Nordic prime ministers. During the Stockholm session of the Nordic Council, they also expressed a wish to expand the Nordic region as a brand.
Sweden’s government crisis means less money for working life
On Wednesday 3 December Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced snap elections will be held on 22 March 2015. His centre-left minority government’s budget was voted down in parliament, which also means the promised increase in spending for the Public Employment Service and the Work Environment Authority will not materialise.
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