Iceland’s national wage contract negotiations are drawing to a close and look set to see the country’s minimum wage go up by 20 percent over the next three years. Read the full story

Fire and ambulance crews in Iceland went on strike from 08.00 to 16.00 yesterday to protest at unresolved year-long pay negotiations. No major problems occurred. Read the full story

Around 100 police officers gathered to protest outside the Icelandic parliament today to draw attention to the fact that their collective wage contract ran out a year ago. Read the full story

The basic salary of a Reykjavik city councillor with the addition of various extras can be close to ISK 1 million a month (USD 8,020 at today’s rate but closer to 12,000 before the banking crisis) a month. In addition, the city pays each and every council member ISK 300,000 per year for phone bills. The mayor earns around ISK 1.1 million per month, including extras. Read the full story

Iceland’s only free-to-air commercial television station will become a paid subscription channel from the middle of November, according to a press release from Skjar Media, which owns the channel. Read the full story

Statistics Iceland reports that the monthly wage index in January 2009 increased by 0.6 percent to 355.7 points. That figure is around 7.5 percent over the previous 12 months.

The January increase means that ‘real wages’ stayed the same in that month, but have fallen 9.4 percent in the last year as a whole. Real wages are an assessment of spending power where the effect of inflation is subtracted from the numerical significance of wage increases. Read the full story

Although Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is experiencing economic troubles, like many other airlines, the company has affirmed that the employment of its pilots is secure. According to reports in Aftenposten, as many as 1,000 jobs with the airline are in jeopardy; however the pilots’ positions are quite secure.

Pilots for the Scandinavian company are, on average, 50 years old. Most pilots are paid between NOK 900,000 to 1.2 million (USD 175,000 to 234,000).

According to reports in the daily newspaper Dagsavisen, the pilots recently signed an agreement with SAS securing their job and salary levels and ensuring that their salary will increase by 12 to 13 percent in the future.

The salary increase translates to a total of NOK 100,000 (USD 20,000) for each individual pilot annually.

According to Jens Lippestad, the union leader for the pilots, the agreement over the pilot’s salaries is “acceptable”. Others, however, might not understand how the airline could have agreed to such a drastic increase in pilots’ wages considering its need to cut costs and scale back.

Scandinavian Airlines System was founded in 1946 and currently operates from hubs in Copenhagen and Stockholm. The airline is a member of the Star Alliance and flies to 112 destinations. In 2006, the airline flew 25 million passengers.

Both Sweden and Denmark were plagued with strikes last week as workers in the health sector demanded better wages, according to reports on the World Socialist website.

Public sector health care workers in Denmark are striking for the first time in over a decade. The dispute started on April 16th and has grown to encompass nurses, laboratory technicians, nurses’ aides, physiotherapists and day care workers, all of whom are insisting on a 15 per cent increase in salary over the next three years.

In Sweden, nurses began taking action on 21st April when 2,500 workers went on strike. Another 900 joined them three days later. The walkouts have affected all areas of the country with nurses in 40 municipalities affected.

Last month in Finland 12,000 nurses almost quit in order to secure their pay rise. The issue was resolved by an agreement to increase wages by 28 per cent over the next two years.

Danish Finance Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen predicted that the government would be intervening in Denmark soon. “It’s absolutely essential that people understand that they need to restrain these wage expectations. The danger of slower growth is greater if pay demands are too high,” he said.

He said, “If we’re not vigilant and don’t show an intelligent approach to these areas, we’ll lose competitiveness.”

With just 23 days to the big off, Eurovision fever is already gripping the people of Europe – and none more so than Terry Wogan. The BBC’s veteran Eurovision Song Contest presenter is famous for his sharp wit and the caustic, and sometimes sarcastic, truisms he lavishes on each act.

According to Frettabladid, it has now come to light that Wogan earns approximately GBP 150,000 for his work at Eurovision; but the BBC will try to justify the expense, pointing to the fact that the show’s 11 million-strong audience figures would drop considerably without Wogan’s inimitable presence.

The Eurovision Song Contest is not widely taken seriously in the UK, a nation that has entered a series of widely disliked acts in the last few years. As many people tune in just to hear Wogan as they do to hear the music and see the outfits. More than one-in-six British viewers will be watching the finals in Serbia next month.

The UK’s entry does not need to compete in the semi final as the country is one of the “Big Four” with France, Germany and Spain whose participation in the final is considered vital to the competition’s success, therefore Wogan has never commentated on a semi final, but has been the voice of BBC TV for every final since 1980.

The Eurovision Song Contest is thought to be one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having quoted in recent years between 100 million and 600 million internationally.