Labour politicians angry with municipal employees’ union (Aftenposten)

Labour MPs have accused the Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees of misrepresenting the proposed hospital reform. MP Laila Kaland has cancelled her membership of the union in protest. Several other MPs are considering doing the same and say that the union is pursing its own agenda linked to a possible break with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) at some time in the future. Disagreement over the Health Minister’s hospital reform – details of which are due to be published today – has brought the conflict to a head. Jan Davidsen, president of the Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees, has refused to comment on Ms Kaland’s decision to cancel her union membership or the news that other MPs may follow suit. He rejects the suggestion that the union is planning to take action against the Government.

Zero tariffs for goods from developing countries (Aftenposten)

From 1 January next year the Government will lift all tariffs and quotas on imports from the world’s 49 poorest countries. For Norwegian consumers this could lead to cheaper goods, such as grain, flour, animal feed, meat, butter and a number of other agricultural products. The aim is to strengthen the economies of these developing countries. The decision means that Norway goes considerably further than the EU, which also recently decided to implement zero-tariffs for the poorest countries. However, a host of transition schemes in the EU means it will take up to nine years before the tariffs are abolished in practice.

Labour Party warns of electricity price shock to come (Verdens Gang)

Electricity prices will skyrocket over the next few years. According to the Labour government, this is necessary to reduce electricity consumption in Norway. It will also help to make the Government’s proposed gas-fired power stations profitable. Norway is rushing headlong into a serious power crisis, according to the Government’s report to the Storting, which Petroleum and Energy Minister Olav Akselsen will present today. The worst that can happen now is a hot, dry summer followed by an extremely cold winter. Not even the wholesale importation of electricity would save us then.

Norwegian commander in Kosovo (Aftenposten)

Lieutenant General Thorstein Skiaker arrived in Pristina yesterday to take over as commander of the Nato-led international force in Kosovo. This is the most important peacetime command to be held by any Norwegian officer. The forces in Kosovo number over 40,000 men and women from around 30 different countries.

End to spending-spree (Dagbladet)

Norwegians have become more cautious and are not spending as much as before. Sellers of pleasure boats are offering discounts, people are hesitant about buying holiday homes and sales of clothes and cosmetics have dropped. Nils Martin Stølen, head of research at the Central Bureau of Statistics, also believes people have become more careful. "It may be that the stock market slump has had a psychological effect, or it could also be that interest rates were raised at the end of last year. Because there is nothing in the way salaries are moving or in the unemployment statistics which would indicate a weaker economic development.

Possibility of fat pay rises (Nationen)

In a speech to food industry employers, Lars Christian Berge, deputy chief executive of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), questioned the future of collective wage agreements at the national level and came surprisingly close to rejecting the agreement on wages policy between the Government, employer organizations and the trade unions. Mr Berge went a long way towards concluding that the tripartite agreement to pursue a "moderate line" on wages has been without effect.

Hagen’s Progress Party slumps (Verdens Gang)

In just one month support for Carl I. Hagen’s Progress Party has plummeted from 17.5 per cent to just 11 per cent, according to the April poll carried out by Norsk Gallup on behalf of VG and TV2. This is the biggest collapse in support for a political party VG has ever seen in a poll, and it is the poorest showing Carl I. Hagen and his party have had for five years. In the shadow of the Progress Party’s decline other interesting things are happening, according to April’s party barometer. Support for the Christian Democrats has jumped 4.5 percentage points to 13.5 per cent, following an almost equally large drop in March. The opposite is true for the Conservatives. They fell 1.5 percentage points after gaining three percentage points in March. The Labour Party is making steady progress. An increase of two percentage points brings them over 30 per cent for the first time since last June.

More foreign supply companies wanted (Klassekampen)

Norwegian oil companies say that foreign suppliers should be given more work in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea if Kværner and Aker Maritime merge. The oil companies expect, and in some respects also want, foreign suppliers to take a larger share of the Norwegian offshore market. Last summer ABB acquired the Umoe yard in Haugesund. Following the acquisition the Norwegian Competition Authority sent a letter to the oil companies on 19 July last year about the competitive situation in the Norwegian offshore market and the Authority’s views on a possible merger between Aker Maritime and Kværner.

Worth Noting

• Former chairman of Kreditkassen, Harald Arnkværn, has agreed to take over as Kværner’s new chairman. Aftenposten has reason to believe that Mr Arnkværn has the backing of Kværner’s chief executive, Kjell Almskog and several leading shareholders. (Aftenposten)
• The Norwegian Insurance Association says it is unacceptable of the police to drop investigations into so many cases. The Association plans to ask both the Director General of Public Prosecutions, Tor-Aksel Busch, and Justice Minister Hanne Harlem to take action to ensure that more cases can be investigated by the police. (Dagsavisen)
• Last year 9,500 people were granted Norwegian citizenship, around 1,500 more than in 1999. The increase is due to the fact that many Bosnians became Norwegian citizens, according to figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics. (NTB)
• Women will also have the chance to apply for the post of Chief Constable of the new police districts, says Christian Democrat MP Finn Kristian Marthinsen, who is a member of the Storting’s Justice Committee. "Having talked to the other members of the Justice Committee, I don’t think there would be a majority in support of any proposal restricting applicants to only those who are currently permanently employed as Chief Constable of an existing police district," he says. (Dagsavisen)
• The results of a surprising new opinion poll, carried out by market researchers MMI, show that support for the monarchy among young people has fallen sharply. Only 49 per cent of people between the ages of 17 and 24 support the monarchy, while as many as 27 per cent want a republic. Representatives of the parties’ youth wings are now calling for a debate on the constitution. (Dagbladet)
• Over the next few years the Directorate of Labour will assist Norwegian shipyards to recruit engineers and skilled workers from Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Major investment programmes on the part of the oil companies have given the offshore yards a lot of work, which is what has made it necessary to actively recruit skilled workers from eastern Europe. (NTB)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

Senior executives of state-owned companies could be equipped with substantial golden parachutes if Trade and Industry Minister Grete Knudsen gets her way. The executives have Tormod Hermansen to thank for their good fortune. Ms Knudsen was so infuriated over Mr Hermansen’s NOK 1.5 million pay hike before Telenor was floated on the stock market that she took the initiative to draw up new guidelines for executive compensation in the public sector. We have still not been given a good explanation of why executive salaries should grow much faster than those of ordinary workers. In the private sector, the universally applicable "market forces" is the explanation of choice, but such a claim would be difficult for a Labour minister to resort to. Even though it has been necessary to streamline the seemingly haphazard awarding of salaries for senior public sector managers, in practice it could look like the Government has given up doing anything about executive greed. If that is the case, it is a signal which could cost Norway dear when the time comes for the next round of national wage negotiations. And that was hardly Ms Knudsen’s objective.