It was reported yesterday that the Association of Icelandic Municipalities believes local governments can keep their pre-schools open as usual despite the pre-school teachers’ strike scheduled to begin on Monday. Now the teachers may resort to physically blocking doorways. Read the full story

Among thousands of stranded tourists across Greece, around 180 customers of the Icelandic travel agency Vita are currently stranded on Corfu, to the south of the Greek mainland, due to the general strike called by Greek unions yesterday. Read the full story

A meeting between representatives of fire fighters, ambulance crews  and local authorities ended Friday morning without a new pay agreement, meaning yesterday’s planned strike went ahead as expected and more industrial action is expected. Read the full story

Some 200 Icelandic fire fighters and ambulance drivers are set to go on strike after failed pay negotiations. Read the full story

Striking food workers in Finland have sent the purchasing public scurrying across the border to Sweden for supplies. Read the full story

Retail strikes will take place across Finland on Friday, after a compromise was rejected by the Finnish Service United Union (PAM). Read the full story

The wave of strikes which recently engulfed the public sector in Norway are now over, everywhere except Oslo.

Despite the expectation that the strikes might drag on for weeks, the state negotiator, Dag Nafstad, was able to hammer out an agreement between the Unio union and KS, the organisation representing the municipal employers.

This news means that over 11,000 workers in local schools, day care centres, nursing homes and some health stations are now due to return to work on Thursday.

Details of the deal were not made public immediately, and nor were the reasons for Oslo continuing the strike alone.

Although some state workers have accepted a wage agreement, workers at the township level are still dissatisfied and likely to go on strike. The strike, if it occurs will most likely affect the health and education sectors of several communities across Norway according to Aftenposten, and may start as soon as Monday.

Negotiations in Oslo over the weekend were successful in ending a 500 worker strike but further negotiations are still necessary.

Mediators are currently at work attempting to come to an agreement with public sector employees around Norway. In some cases they have succeeded, in other cases the negotiations continue. On Friday night, after negotiations went for a full 24 hours beyond the set time limit, state workers agreed to an increase in wages of 6.2 per cent.

The negotiations are occurring on three levels: country, state and township and involve four large labour organisations: Unio, LO, YS and Akademikerne.

Currently, 3,000 members of the Unio union have not accepted an offer which means that teachers, nurses, physiotherapists and administrative staff at the township level may not come to work on Monday.

According to leaders for Unio, the strike will spread quickly and is likely to affect Oslo, Bergen, Baerum, Tromso and Karmoy.

Airports are scrambling to conclude wage settlement talks with the umbrella union LO Stat before 16th May. If the two parties do not come to an agreement by that time, seven airports in Norway could be forced into closure as a result, according to reports in Aftenposten.

Last week, LO Stat warned the airport operators that it would pull workers from several airports if a settlement could not be reached. The union said that 220 workers for the Norwegian Civil Service Union and the Electricians and IT Workers Union would be off the job, leaving airports in Bergen Flesland, Molde Aro, Kristiansund Kvernberget, Mosjoen Kjerstad, Mo i Rana Rossvold and Harstad/Narvik Evenes unable to operate. In addition, the strike would also affect some workers at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

The deadline for the two parties to reach a deal is midnight on 15th May. The talks cover almost all the airport employee groups except the air traffic controllers.

The chief negotiator for LO Stat, Lise Orlsen, said recently during a mediation session: “The parties are not near an agreement and there is a real danger of conflict. We enter all negotiations with the ambition of reaching a result, but there is no doubt that this will be a challenge.”

One of the most important issues currently under discussion is payment for overtime work.