Still ways to go to reach a concensus
Ástráður Haraldsson, acting state mediator, talked to journalists before the meeting this morning. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Ástráður Haraldsson, the state mediator in the dispute between Efling and the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, says that there are still ways to go between the parties. Yesterday, however, they found a basis for starting negotiations, but the whole negotiation dispute remains. This was stated in his case when he spoke to the media just before ten o’clock this morning when the parties’ meeting began in Karphúsið, the offices of the state mediator (a literal translation of the name of the officebuilding is the house where people argue - "karp" meaning an argument).
Haraldsson said that at 10 AM today parties would start by sitting down and planning the day and the following days. “It will be my suggestion that we will try to work a reasonably tight day today, so until after dinner or so, and maybe a similar one tomorrow. If we are not finished, then we will continue on Sunday and continue as long as we have the energy,” he said.
Asked about the state of the dispute, Haraldsson stated: “What has been done up to now has only been to find a basis to start talking. Now the whole dispute needs to be solved.”
“Yes, there are still ways to go,” Haraldsson said, when asked if there was much left in the dispute.
He said the parties were going to be allowed to remain in peace through the day, but he said the situation could be reviewed by the media at the end of the day. "But we want peace while we are negotiating."
