Work ban on Efling members confirmed

Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, CEO of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise …

Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, CEO of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (SA) announcing the landslide vote for the work ban at a press conference yesterday. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson

The Confederation of Icelandic Enterpris’s (SA) work ban on Efling members has now been approved, but this was announced yesterday.

The vote on the SA Efling work ban ended at four o’clock yesterday, but the results were announced at six o’clock last night. Member companies in the confederation adopted a decisive majority of the work ban on Efling’s members. According to SA, the vote weight varied depending on the size of the companies. Therefore, each company casts multiple votes and the number of votes for each company was based on the paid membership fees.

94.73% of the votes cast were cast in favour of the work ban, while only 3.32 percent of the votes were against it. All SA member associations had the right to vote for the work ban, while 87.8 percent of SA member associations voted.

Heavy  steps

“These are heavy steps that the Icelandic Confederation of Enterprise is taking here today and should be viewed as a defensive measure against the Efling strikes. The confederation sees this action as its last resort to enforce collective bargaining,” said Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, CEO of SA, when speaking to journalists yesterday after the voting results were announced.

Þorbergsson says that it is a case of a forced hand and that this was the last resort of the Icelandic Confederation of Enterprise to guard their position.

“It is clear that the strike measures we have seen implemented every day will cause enormous financial losses and have a major impact on society as a whole.”

Starts on March 2nd

The work ban will take effect a week after SA has sent a notice to Efling Union and the state mediator. So it will start at noon on Thursday, March 2nd.

When the workban comes into effect, none of the more than 20 thousand people of Efling Union will work nor will they get wages or other working rights while the measure is in effect.

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