– We always go to mediation in the hope of reaching a solution. But we’re clearly preparing for conflict, Peggy Hessen Følsvik told NTB when the LO halted wage negotiations with the NHO the week before Easter.

It concluded that no progress could be made there. As a result, the country’s largest personnel organization will meet with Riksmekleren on Friday to try to reach an agreement with the counterparty NHO. The main YS organization does the same.

LO announced the resignation of 185,000 members, while YS did the same to just over 16,300 of its members. Which industries and companies will be affected in the first draw will be known on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Sunday strike?

The mediation deadline is Sunday midnight, and if the parties do not agree, there will be a strike from Sunday, April 16.

This year’s settlement is a temporary settlement, which means that only salary is being negotiated. There was no strike at a modus vivendi after the war.

But the settlement this year is taking place at a special time: price growth has been record high, and wages have not been able to keep up. From 2015 to 2023, real wages in general increased by just 0.4 percent, according to Statistics Norway. Norwegians have not had such poor wage growth since the 1980s.

The LO made it clear that they wanted a generic complement above the price increase, which this year has been estimated at 4.9 percent.

Refers to local settlements

For its part, the employers’ organization NHO believes that wages should adjust to the situation in various companies, and that more should be left to local wage settlements.

– In order to enhance competitiveness and ensure that people go to work, the company’s ability to pay should be the basis for wage settlement. It’s very different, and we have to keep that in mind, said NHO leader Ole Eric Elmeled, after negotiations broke down on March 30.

The LO also requires a low wage supplement, as they usually do, and an ability for equal pay.