Background information

To facilitate the adaption to crisis management during the COVID-19 crisis, the Norwegian Federation of Service Industries and Retail Trade (member of NHO) and the unions in private nursing sector (e.g. Fagforbundet, Norsk sykepleierforbund) on 20 March made an agreement on working time. The measures were introduced to make it possible on short notice to increase staffing in private nursing homes and paramedic, and, for infection control reasons, to reduce the number of shifts and unnecessary movement of staff between different wards. Similar collective agreements were made with another employers’ organisation, Enterprise Federation of Norway (Virke), to cover the rest of the private nursing sector.

Content of measure

On 20 March, the Norwegian Federation of Service Industries and Retail Trade (member of NHO) and the unions in private nursing sector (e.g. Fagforbundet, Norsk sykepleierforbund) made an agreement on working time. The agreement was made pursuant to section 10-12 (4) in the Working Environment Act that gives larger trade unions right to enter into a collective agreement that deviates from the law's working hours provisions.

The collective agreement expanded the limits to overtime (from 10 to 25 hours per 7 days), and gave the employer the opportunity to averaging working hours. The limit of total working hours in any 24-hour period were raised from 10 to 16 hours. According to the agreement, employers are obliged to discuss the use of overtime with shop stewards before overtime work under the agreement is implemented. The agreement states that overtime cannot be imposed pursuant to the agreement when the extraordinary situation associated with coronavirus no longer exists. The validity period of the agreement was originally 26 weeks, and the agreement could be terminated with two month's notice from each of the parties.

Use of measure

No information to date.

Contents

• Health and safety
• Working time flexibility

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Workers in care facilities Workers in essential services	Companies providing essential services	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Social partners jointly Trade unions Employers' organisations	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The collective agreement on working time during the COVID-19 pandemic was negotiated by the parties, the Norwegian Federation of Service Industries and Retail Trade (member of NHO) and the unions in private nursing sector (e.g. Fagforbundet, Norsk sykepleierforbund), on initiative from the state and the social partners jointly, to facilitate crisis management. By taking such action, the social partners wanted to keep regulation of working time in a collective agreement and avoid state intervention.

Views and reactions

The social partners are supportive of regulation through collective agreements and reached an agreement in short time. . In the media, there was a discussion between the employers’ organisation, Enterprise Federation of Norway (Virke) and The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), concerning workingtime regulation for businesses without collective agreement. The employers’ organisation asked for an amendment to the legislation, in order to give such businesses ability to deviate from standard working time regulation. LO, on the other side, argued that the present legislation gives larger trade unions right to enter into a collective agreement that deviates from the law's working hours provisions, and that it would be irresponsible to give the employers a unilateral right to deviate from The Working Environment Act.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 16 March 2020: Central working time agreements entered into during the corona crisis (www.fagforbundet.no)
• 01 April 2020: Open conflict between LO and Virke (frifagbevegelse.no)