Last-ditch attempt to avoid strikes
SGS strike action will have a major impact on tourism. Photo: Golli
Negotiators from SA – Business Iceland and the Icelandic Professional Trade Association (SGS) are this morning in talks – less than two hours before the first of a wave of strikes, which are set to paralyse rural Iceland, begins.
10,000 SGS members will be downing tools at midday today as part of an ongoing wage dispute with the State. Strike action will not affect the Greater Reykjavik area, but will have a major impact on line in the rest of the country.
A total of sixteen unions are involved in the wave of strikes beginning today. Members undertaking industrial action work in most of the major lines of business present in rural Iceland, e.g. fish and meat processing, abattoirs, tourism, transport and haulage, cleaning.
The Chair of SGS, Björn Snæbjörnsson, is not optimistic that the dispute will be resolved today. “Our meaning with the State Mediator today is number ten in the queue. I do not expect any new developments today, but a meeting has been convened and, of course, here we are,” Snæbjörnsson informed mbl.is.
As well as strikes in the fields mentioned above, many Strætó bus routes outside the Greater Reykjavik area will be cancelled if an agreement is not reached.
