Norwegian labour leaders and employers' representatives fundamentally disagree over whether a 5.2 percent wage increase would have given workers the "real pay growth" they sought. Reports last week of a surprising jump in the current inflation rate, to 6.5 percent, didn't help, but it's arguably the double-digit increases in top management compensation that prompted trade union federations to break off talks and call 25,000 workers all over the country out on strike this week in a wide variety of sectors.
[...]
The battle between management and workers flared on state broadcaster NRK's popular morning radio program Politisk kvarter, with labour leader Jørn Eggum of Fellesforbundet blasting the "bonus bonanza" enjoyed by executives at many of Norway's highly profitable companies, and industrial employers' leader Stein Lier-Hansen of Norsk Industri suggesting the labour leaders are just seeking "revenge." At issue, though, is how executives routinely receive huge bonuses tied to profits on top of multi-million-kroner salaries, a practice that resulted in total compensation increases as high as 20 percent of even more last year. Workers, meanwhile, haven't seen real wage growth for the past two years, longer in many sectors. Their purchasing power has declined, and labour leaders think it's time for that to stop.
[...]