Trade unions
Roles and responsibilities
Trade unions safeguard their members’ interests and ensure employee participation at the workplace. They have to roles: a collective role where they participate in meetings with the management and are included in the decision-making processes, and a role where they represent the union members in individual cases.
Trade unions responsibilities are to:
- Collectively
- participate in meetings with the employer and be included in decision-making processes
- prepare demands for new agreements
- For their members
- take care of their members’ interests in main and local salary settlements
- offer help during work conflicts and similar situations
- represent their members in connection with employment
- keep their members informed about current salary and work issues
Membership fee
- The membership fee amount is determined by the trade union of which you are a member.
- Some trade unions bill their members for the fee, others have an agreement with the employer that the quota is automatically deducted from the employee's salary every month.
- The trade union fee is tax deductible according to the Norwegian Tax Authorities' rate for trade union fee and will be listed as a deduction in the pre-filled tax return you receive from the Norwegian Tax Authorities in the following year.
Trade unions at UiO
- Federation of Norwegian Professional Associations (Akademikerne) - is a central organisation consisting of 13 trade unions and several cooperation partners, see overview (Norwegian)
- Norwegian Association of Researchers (Forskerforbundet) - represents all of Unio's trade unions at UiO, se overview (unio.no)
- Norwegian Civil Service Union (NTL) - represents all of LO Stat's trade unions at UiO, see overview (lostat.no) (Norwegian)
- Parat - represents all of YS Stat's trade unions at UiO, see overview (ys.no) (Norwegian)
Common contact address for all trade unions at UiO: hovedtillitsvalgte@uio.no
Safety representatives
Safety representatives shall be engaged in cases of importance for the working environment. Their role is described in the Working Environment Act (pdf) (arbeidstilsynet.no) . Examples:
- Ensure that the safety, health and welfare of all members of staff are properly taken care of; see for example the procedure in cases of harassment
- Ensure that all members of staff receive necessary instruction and training
- Report work accidents
- Be represented in the Central Working Environment Committee (AMU) and the Local Working Environment Committees (LAMU)
Interest organisations
Interest organisations work to promote the interests of their members but are not vested with formal negotiation and decision-making powers.
Currently, there is only one interest organisation at UiO:
- UiODoc, a forum for employees on fixed-term contracts