June before salaries are settled. Room for 1% real wage growth

Unio's chief negotiator believes there is room for at least 1 percent real wage growth in this year's wage settlement: – If employees don't accept it, others will, says Klemet Rønning-Aaby.

Spring payroll settlement begins immediately. This year's settlement is A Main settlement – And it is important for the wallets of many of us.

Friday at 9:30 showing Technical Accounts Committee (TBU)Technical Accounts Committee (TBU)The committee must provide the best possible realistic and numerical basic information, and present it in a way that can avoid disagreements between the work teams regarding the actual economic conditions as much as possible. The Committee can, among other things, prepare price forecasts and can also prepare numerical background material for private income policy issues. Source: SNL A report that explains a lot of content.

The negotiators on both the employee and employer sides then get the facts on two important questions:

• What was wage growth last year?
• How much will prices rise this year?

Purchasing power may have decreased in the past year

I got it last year Front threads Front threads The front-line occupational model must ensure that wages in Norway do not over time become significantly higher than those of Norway's competitors abroad, so that competitiveness is weakened. This is done through industrial players exposed to competition who negotiate first during wage settlement.In industry, which tops almost all other settlements, the salary framework is 5.2 percent. Expectations for price increases in 2023 were 4.9 percent. So you should give the settlement one Increase real wagesIncrease real wagesA real increase in wages, or an increase in purchasing power, occurs when wages rise more than prices. By 0.3 percent.

It didn't work out that way. Prices rose as much as 5.5 percent. This led to last year joining a series of wage settlements in recent years that reduced the purchasing power of large groups.

Final wage growth figures will be released on Friday.

At the same time, owners have captured an increasing share of corporate value creation for several years. Since 2020, the share of employees in corporate value creation has fallen by 13 percentage points. Now LO and other employees want to reverse the trend and increase the workers' share.

A ten-tenth increase in wages plus an increase in prices means an increase in purchasing power and, in practical terms, you will have better opportunities.

Fellesforbundet and other LO associations have already announced that “increasing purchasing requirements” is the main request.

You want some on top

Unio, the largest organization for highly educated workers, agrees.

-These are good times in this industry. There is room for good compromise. If employees don't take it, someone else will. This year, there is room for real wages to grow by at least 1 percent, says Klimt Ronning Abe, head of negotiations in June.

If TBU's forecast for a price increase is 4.5 percent, that means Unio will get a wage increase of at least 5.5 percent for all wage earners.

Above all, June and other groups in the public sector believe they should have more than just a framework for front-line topics.

– Necessary due to recruitment problems for qualified nurses and teachers in the public sector. Ronning Abe believes that it is absolutely necessary for the limits to be somewhat higher.

Geir Rosfall, mayor of Onio, agrees:

Two things are the most important in settling salaries for this year. There is real growth in wages and a larger framework of front-end topics, he said at a seminar organized by June on Thursday.

Last year, industry participants also agreed to give the municipal sector a 0.2 percent raise over frontline participants due to weaker wage trends.

Nurse: NOK 630,000

According to Statistics Norway, the average salary, including fixed allowances, is NOK 676,000 in Norway. For Unio groups, the comparative pay is:

• Nurse: 630,120 NOK
• Specialist nurses: NOK 711,960
• Kindergarten teacher. 572,280 NOK
• Primary school teacher: NOK 642,960
• Lecturer (school teacher): NOK 688,080

Given that the TBU calculates a price increase of 4.5 percent, real wage growth of 1 percent would work out as follows:

• Nurse: NOK 34,656 salary increase
• Kindergarten teacher: salary increase of NOK 31,475
• Primary school teacher: salary increase of NOK 35,362
• Minutes: NOK 37,844 salary increase

But June requires more than a framework from the industrial sector. If they get approved, it will likely mean a few extra thousand. And about 40 thousand increases in the wages of many members.

Felisforbünden first

– The economy is good in the industry. Overall, there is room in the economy for orders without this leading to an increase in interest rates, Ronning Abe says. He won't say anything about what exactly Unio's demands will be until they have an overview of all the factors in the settlement.

The LO Representative Council on Tuesday, February 20, adopts the guidelines and settlement form for this year's settlement. Everything points to a demand for “increased purchasing power” and a federal settlement. It will then be the Federal Union, led by leader Jörn Igem, that will enter into negotiations with NHO's Norges Industri first.

Negotiations begin in mid-March. If the parties do not agree, mandatory mediation will begin on April 3. The first possible start of the strike is April 6. After completing the settlement on the front lines, other settlements will begin in the municipal and state sectors.