Arbitration News

Finance Workers in Oslo Protest Strike Ban

Finance workers in Oslo, Norway, demonstrated on June 12 to protest a government decision to ban a strike due to start that day. Demonstrating outside the Royal Castle, the workers were also protesting a lockout threatened by their employers—the banks and insurers.

The workers are campaigning to defend their pension rights as Norwegian insurance employers seek to cut the cost and benefits of their pension scheme. The dispute involves some 24,000 employees, and a strike would virtually shut down the Norwegian financial industry.

The government has appointed a seven-member arbitration committee to enforce a settlement in the dispute. Labour Minister Bjarne Haakon Hanssen said a special session of parliament would enact the legislation needed to force the parties into mediation. On June 10, talks between Finansforbundet and the employers’ federation failed to reach agreement. The government then intervened in the dispute as the first national banking strike in 30 years was threatened.

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	Did You Know?
	Arbitration mostly leads to a binding agreement. Arbitration is an alternative to resolving disputes in court. Arbitration allows the parties involved to choose an individual or several individuals with knowledge and expertise in the subject matter of the dispute to hear each party's evidence and present a binding decision. With arbitration, the arbitrator makes a decision for the parties involved in the dispute, as opposed to mediation, which involves a mediator actively attempting to move the parties to agreement.