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UNI Global Union Deputy General Secretary, Christy Hoffman attended the HK Norway Congress in Oslo over the weekend.

Hoffman said,  “The UNI Global Union family  thanks HK Norway for this major contribution to the UNI fighting fund which we will use to further the cause of collective bargaining and organising across the globe. Your generous contributions to UNI in the past have already supported the growth of unions in Zimbabwe, Colombia and elsewhere.”

Hoffman said that the central challenge of our time was to expand collective bargaining and to make it relevant for the future. She said that the situation in Norway was very different from the norm where the majority of workers were denied effective access to collective bargaining, unable to form unions owing to union busting and industrial relations models which aim to keep them weak. 

“Here in Norway and across the Nordic region you pride your selves on your strong collective bargaining traditions.  What you have – especially sectoral bargaining- is the envy of the rest of the world and you must never take it for granted,” Hoffman reminded the participants.

“This is why UNI’s program to build strong unions- which we call Breaking Through – is so important.  We are working with unions in more than 50 different campaigns to win collective bargaining,” she added.

The UNI Deputy GS said organising was not only about improving workers’ lives: “An organised workforce is also better for the world we live in.  When collective bargaining declines, as it has done in so many countries across the globe, income inequality goes up and there is too little purchasing power to fuel our economies.   Even the IMF recognizes that this is true.  Its model of so-called labor market flexibility is failed.” 

The UNI Deputy GS concluded by congratulating President Trine Lise Sundnes and HK Norway for their victory in fighting Sunday opening in Norway: “This is not only about your rights to family time and community, but, as Trine Lise has stressed,  it is also about climate change and saving our planet.  No society needs shopping 7 days a week.”

“Never forget- when you’re fighting for justice on the job here in the Norway you do not walk alone.   The unions of UNI Global Union are with you. Together we can and do change the world. “

Trine Lise and her team were re-elected later in the congress.  Congratulations from UNI!