Shop strike averted after agreement on wage settlement

The result of the mediation is within the framework for the frontline subject, with an overall wage increase of 5.2 per cent.

– Now we are happy to have reached an agreement. It has been an intense and demanding day, and we are satisfied to have reached an agreement that both parties might sign. Now we are avoiding a general strike in Norwegian shops and businesses. Our members sell important goods and services that mean a lot to people’s everyday lives, says Virke CEO Bernt G. Apeland.

Handel og Kontor Norge points out that they entered the negotiations with important demands to frame Sunday as the different day.

– We have now received approval for this with a supplement for Sunday work. Together with plans for an ambitious skills reform for the trade and service industry, this settlement is a good result, they write in a press release.

– Satisfied

There is also agreement between Virke and Negotia and Parat in the mediation regarding the Functionary Agreements and related agreements. This includes full- and part-time employees, including managers, in the office, shop, warehouse and dispatch.

Parat’s negotiator Thomas Lilloe is satisfied with the outcome of the mediation.

– After a tough mediation in overtime, we have reached the goal with a result we are satisfied with. The result will provide increased purchasing power for our members, says Lilloe.

Duty-free shops might be closed

If the parties had not agreed, Parat had announced that, among others, Byggmakker, XL-Bygg, Løvenskiold/Maxbo, Montér, Gustav Pedersen and Optimera would be affected by strikes.

HK Norway, for its part, announced that they were going to withdraw their members from Travel Retail Norway at the airports in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. Thus, duty-free sales might have been closed at these airports.