In its conclusions and recommendations, the Committee supports the UEN\u2019s criticism of Norway\u2019s use of compulsory arbitration.<\/p>\n
The Committee regrets Norway\u2019s use of compulsory arbitration to end lawful strikes. The intervention by compulsory arbitration in the 2022 teachers\u2019 strike is similar to interventions in similar cases for which Norway has previously been criticized by the Committee. The Committee describes the use of compulsory arbitration to end a lawful strike as a longstanding challenge and urges the Norwegian Government, to find solutions that can reduce the use of compulsory arbitration going forward, in consultation with the social partners.<\/p>\n
The UEN is pleased that the ILO has provided such support to teachers. The right to strike is a fundamental human right and is absolutely essential for the trade union movement.<\/p>\n
UEN notes especially the Committee\u2019s statement that the possible long-term consequences of a strike in the teaching sector do not, in themselves, justify prohibition of strike. This is important because, in its complaint, the UEN particularly emphasized that the Government\u2019s decision to impose compulsory arbitration was made without knowledge of the actual consequences, and was primarily based on vague concerns about the long-term effects of a teachers\u2019 strike. Moreover, and importantly, the Committee\u2019s statement supports the extensive right to strike in the education sector, something UEN considers highly significant going forward.<\/p>\n
The Committee concludes that it is difficult to reconcile the use of compulsory arbitration outside of essential services with the right to strike and the principle of the voluntary nature of collective bargaining. In this context, the Committee reminds that, it is possible to establish minimum services in the education sector, in full consultation with the social partners, in cases of strikes of long duration.<\/p>\n
Following the use of compulsory arbitration in 2022, the Government established a working group to explore possibilities for reducing the use of compulsory arbitration. The Committee views this positively and notes that the Government has expressed commitment to continue dialogue with the social partners on reducing the use of compulsory arbitration, and, in this context, to resume discussions on minimum services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The teachers’ strike in autumn 2022 ended when the Government intervened and imposed compulsory arbitration. In October 2023, the Union of Education Norway (UEN) (in Norwegian: Utdanningsforbundet) filed a complaint regarding this intervention with the International Labour Organization\u2019s Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA). Our attorneys, Maria Mirijanyan, Johannes Teigland, and Christopher Hansteen, prepared the complaint on behalf of the Union of Education Norway and assisted the UEN throughout the complaint process. The Committee has now reviewed the complaint, and their report was published on June 14th after being adopted by the ILO\u2019s Governing Body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":20001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-law"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n