Sustainable Decisions and Social Dialogue - Significant Developments in Norway

Various major challenges to the Norwegian economy and the welfare of employees has historically been meet by using active tri-partitite collaboration and social dialogue at different level (national, sectoral and company) as the main instrument. Today the Norwegian model, like any other regulatory regime, faces a far more serious and fundamental challenge: how to transform our economy in order to achieve a sustainable production? The main tool for social dialogue at company is the different Basic Agreements or the collective agreements establishing the rules of the game: the mutual recognition of collective organisation, managerial prerogative and industrial peace. The agreements also identify the different issues covered by the management’s obligation to inform, consult and in certain cases, negotiate with the trade union representatives. In this article we examine the recent changes in four of the most important Basic Agreements. In all four statements concerning 'sustainable development' have been included, ranging from efforts to increase the understanding of the environmental consequences of company activity to establishing sustainability as a topic for consultation between the social partners. We also look into some resent suggestions for changes in the Working Environment Act made by the trade union federations concerning how the work on 'heath and safety' might include placing the external environment on the agenda. The author is a member of the project team of the Sustainable Companies project at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo