LO and Labour do not own May 1st
Sylvi Listhaug is travelling to Drammen on May 1st and states that the Progress Party (FrP) is more of a workers party than what Labour (Ap) is. The claim causes Hadia Tajik to balk.
– It is of little help to talk about working people when the Government and FrP have a policy that affects the same people adversely, the Ap deputy leader tells NTB.
As examples, she points to the increased access to temporary employment, the state budget tax profile and the cuts in Trade Union deductions among other things.
Not Labours’ day
In an interview with NTB prior to the event in Drammen, Sylvi Listhaug concludes that May 1st does not belong to neither Labour nor the Trade Unions (LO).
– The day belongs to the workers in Norway, and many of them are neither members of Labour nor the Trade Unions, says Listhaug, and reveals that she herself has no special relationship to the day.
– My parents are farmers, and May 1st is a nice day for working the farm, she says.
Up to most people
It is a month since she stepped down as Minister of Justice. Presently she is a regular parliamentary representative and politician representing the elderly. That some is provoked that FrP is using May 1st for political agitation, she does not understand.
– It’s up to people to choose how to spend May Day, May 15th and the National Day (May 17 th) , for that matter. Det har iallfall ikke Ap eller LO noe med, sier hun.
Despite the fact that May 1st does not mean the world to her personally, she believes it’s important to mark the day.
– It is important to emphasize all the workers in Norway who are building roads and houses, or handling garbage for that matter. There has been an attitude in Norway that completing a vocational degree is not enough. We must leave that kind of thoughts behind. Not Everyone can be doctors, lawyers or engineers, she says.
Re-negotiate the EEA (EØS)
Listhaug believes that Norwegian working life is good, but does not hesitate to establish that there is social dumping occuring in parts of Norwegian working life.
– The EEA Agreement has served Norway well in many areas, not in the least because Norwegian export companies have gained access to large markets. But there are also challenges associated with the agreement, including free movement of labour and export of social security, she says.
Listhaug indicates that Frp wants to renegotiate parts of the EEA Agreement, in which the party has not received the support from the rest of the Government.
Immigration
Prior to the event in Drammen on May 1st, the former Minister of Immigration goes hard out against the Labour Party.
– First and foremost, labour wish to tax workers harder, so that ordinary people will be left with less in their wallets. Many workers are worried about Norway and our future. We must take that seriously, and much of it’s revolving around immigration policy, she says.
– For many unskilled workers, the pressure on jobs will become tougher as more and more people without higher education come to Norway. These are the people who experience the consequences of immigrationon themselves, not the lawyers, engineers and doctors, Listhaug adds.
Vocational studies
During Frp’s National Convention last weekend, it was stated by many that the proportion of skilled workers is higher with them than in other parties. Educational spokesperson Roy Steffensen indicates that 28 per cent of the delegates have a vocational degree, compared to 14 per cent of the Norwegian society as such.
– We reflect the population well and are the party for most Norwegians. We are a party of and for workers, and I find that ordinary workers are groomed and listened to in my party, says Steffensen, who himself rose from being an unskilled worker in the fish farming industry to becoming a parliamentary representative.
The Trade Union boss, Hans Christian Gabrielsen, does not accept the claim that Frp is the party for the workers.
– All the surveys I have read show that Frp is failing among the working people. Workers have for a long time seen that Frp is a tax cutting party on behalf of the richest in this country, he told Aftenposten on Sunday.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
