Cancer Society employees will go on strike

Eli Gunhild By, Cancer SocietyLeader of Nursing Association Eli Gunhild By.Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

Cancer Society employees will go on strike as of Monday

19 nurses in the Cancer Society will go on strike on Monday. This because the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises (NHO) and the Cancer Society didn’t reach a successful conclusion with the Norwegian Nursing Association (NSF) on a collective agreement.

 

Just after the deadline expired at midnight on Thursday night, the mediator found that the parties stood so far apart that he didn’t see any possibility of putting forward a road-map toward a solution. The mediator for the negations is Jussi Erik Pedersen.

The strike will weaken the ‘cancer line’. This is the telephone service that offers patients and their relatives, advice and counselling. According to the Cancer Society, the line handles around 15,000 inquiries annually.

Left Virke for Abelia

The Cancer Society joined with NHO, and Abelia last year as a result of interest-policy disagreements with their former employers’ association, Virke, among other things. Abelia is the Business Association of Norwegian Knowledge and Technology Based Enterprises.

‘The Cancer Society signed out of Virke and into NHO,  who promises our members that they will not get lower pay, or worsened working conditions. We now see that this was a promise that they are not prepared to fulfill. Unfortunately we see no other option than a strike,’ says the nurse’s union leader (NSF), Eli Gunhild By.

NHO says that it is incorrect that the employees have received less pay and worsened working conditions

‘As we perceive it, NHO/Abelia, and the Cancer Society have offered a good collective agreement. This is in line with agreements entered into with other comparable employee groups,’ says Nina Melsom to NTB news agency. Melsom is Director of Tariff and Membership Services at NHO .

She says the matter is important to NHO and Abelia because it is about how wages are determined in the private sector.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today