Good news for the country’s women and young people – VG

Updated less than 30 minutes ago

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The Government is currently submitting to the Storting a number of proposals that will tighten the rules for hiring and who will give people who want full-time position better opportunities to leave part-time life.

– This is very good news for the country women and not least the young people, who can now apply for vocational education, knowing that there are permanent positions and secure jobs for them, says Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion Marte Mjøs Persen (Labor) to VG.

Here are the most important bills when it comes to full-time:

• The main rule in working life shall be full-time employment.
• In the future, the employer must document that there is a need for part-time employment and it will be discussed with shop stewards.
• The bill proposes that part-time employees should be given priority for an extended position rather than the employer hiring new employees.
• Part-time employees shall be given preferential rights to extra shifts.

Persen says that a part-time culture has developed that must be removed.

– Involuntary part-time and lack of full-time culture is a big problem in parts of the public and private sector and it particularly affects women.

NHO sure – LO satisfied

NHO is not satisfied with the new rules.

– With the tightening of the hiring regulations, the government deprives companies, and many employees, of the necessary flexibility. In practice, the proposal will affect value creation throughout Norway, says NHO director Nina Melsom.

– The new rules will make it extremely difficult, especially for small and medium-sized companies across the country, to operate in many industries. There is already a screaming need for labor in Norwegian companies and these austerity measures hurt worse, she continues.

Melsom believes that it will end up with more people becoming temporary employees in the companies, and will be out of work when a work period is over.

– This instead of them having permanent jobs with serious staffing companies that will provide new assignments with other companies with labor needs.

LO, on the other hand, rejoices over the government’s plans.

– This is “damn good”, to put it bluntly. The government is now delivering on its promises to clean up Norwegian working life. The proposal will contribute to more permanent secure jobs and less hiring, says deputy head Steinar Krogstad in LO.

Krogstad believes that it is extremely necessary to tighten the regulations for hiring from staffing companies.

– We wholeheartedly support the tightening of the hiring regulations, which is absolutely necessary to stop the conditions of single workers in Norwegian working life.

– 91 percent part-time

In the private sector, the Minister points out that in the retail trade more than every third employee has a part-time position, in hotels and restaurants this applies to about half.

– In the public sector, there is also a culture that must be turned around: Among nursing staff in municipalities and county municipalities, 91 per cent work in part-time positions, and among auxiliary nurses, 74 per cent work part-time.

– Some want to work part time?

– Yes, it is first and foremost involuntary part-time we are going to do something about, and it will be possible to work part-time. But the fight for full-time is not just a private matter. Part-time work can be negative for the working environment and for the quality of the services. And then we as a society need more people to work.

– Most people probably agree with the main rule, but you risk that employers can still turn away and find other ways because they think part-time gives them greater flexibility and lower costs?

– This will not solve everything, but it is now emphatically stated that the norm and the main rule in Norwegian working life are permanent full-time positions. The need for part-time work must be documented and discussed with shop stewards.

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The new hiring changes

The other legislative amendments are about hiring.

A main measure in the bill is a general tightening of the right to hire from staffing companies, by abolishing the right to hire “when the work is of a temporary nature”.

– The goal is more permanent and direct employment in a two-party relationship between employer and employee, where employees have more influence over their own working day, says the Minister of Labor.

– If the employer is still largely to decide whether the work is of a temporary nature, then it is not certain that the effect of this reorganization will be so great?

– What we are proposing is a fundamental change in the balance of power in the workplace. We tighten the general access to hiring. The use of hiring should mainly be limited to temporary cases.

Introduces approval scheme

She says hiring from staffing companies should be reserved for cases where companies that are bound by high-level collective agreements have entered into local hiring agreements.

She says they allow for limited exceptional access in some areas.

– We provide a regulatory authority that, among other things, allows for some special rules on time-limited hiring of health personnel to ensure proper operation of the health and care service.

She says they are also proposing an approval scheme:

– Staffing companies must today be registered with the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. We rather propose an approval scheme where extended requirements are set for documentation for hiring out labor.

The government has also had a proposal for consultation on a ban on renting construction sites in Oslo, Viken and the former Vestfold.

– We will avoid that

She says the ministry will lay down regulations with effect from 2023.

– Why a ban on hiring here, but not elsewhere or industries?

– Because there is more extensive use of hiring there, where hiring is a general staffing strategy. We must avoid that.

– In Trøndelag, contractors experience that they have already started to lose employees to Eastern Norway, because companies here lack people and provide better conditions?

– There will not be fewer people even if you can not use a staffing agency. The point is that companies that have previously hired, now have to hire people. There is a shortage of professionals in the construction industry and when we strengthen the organized part of working life, it will make it more attractive for young people today to get a permanent job.

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