The two-week strike by hospital employees and ambulance drivers is over, after the Government on Tuesday evening decided to refer the wage dispute to the Statutory Wages Board.
This was announced by Sate Secretary Gina Lund of the Labour Department.
The decision to use forced arbitration (tvungen lønnsnevnd) came after state health officials declared the strike by 500 hospital employees “posed a danger to life and health”, Lund said.
The striking workers will return to work immediately, but the Wages Board will not make its decision before sometime this fall.
Union leader Erik Kollerud said he was disappointed by the decision to use forced arbitration, but said they would now do what they could to convince the Wages Board that their demand for equal pay for equal work in the public sector was reasonable.
