Proposes whistle blower council

Head of cultural and sports sector in Oslo municipality Gro Balas (Labour). Photo: Terje Bendiksby / SCANPIX.

Labour veteran proposes whistle blower council

Deputy member for the Oslo City Council, Gro Balas (Labour), fears that women refrain from telling about sexual harassment and believe a whistle blower council may be the solution, NRK reports.

 

She says to the National Broadcaster that the Labour Party ought to consider new guidelines for dealing with whistle blower cases.

As the claims against Deputy Leader Trond Giske have become more and more tangible, Labour Leader Jonas Gahr Støre has repeatedly stated that it should be safe to inform in the party.

Balas emphasizes that she believes Støre’s statements are steps in the right direction. Still, she is not convinced that today’s system for dealing with warning cases is optimal.

– When people with a lot of power, whether elected as a party secretary or in this case, also leader, treats warning cases, it will always trigger some form of suspicion that this is about a power struggle, says Balas.

She will propose new guidelines for handling of notification cases at the Oslo Labour Party’s annual meeting in March.

Whistle blower council

I think that both centrally and in the counties should have a form of warning council. This already exists in many companies. It may consist of somewhat older people, and some with legal expertise. Additionally, there should be one or two who are trusted and have been elected through a secretariat. These can process the alerts that are raised and take care of them initially, says Balas.

Støre said Tuesday that he believes in the whistle blowers. At the same time he added that Giske should be given the opportunity to present his views on the incidents before the party leadership concludes. Balas agrees that it must be the party leadership who has the final say so.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today