Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.12.2016, Blaðsíða 10

Vilhjálmur Birgisson is the head of the
Akranes Labour Union (Verkalýðsfélag
Akraness). His background is decid-
edly working class, including stints
working everywhere from fish pro-
cessing plants to the ferry between
Akranes and Reykjavík. Today, he is
one of the most critical voices of not
just employers, but union leadership.
We met with Vilhjálmur to learn more
about what the unions are doing, and
what they could be doing better.
We continue to see union leaders
signing collective bargaining
agreements with management that
the workers end up rejecting. The
ongoing teachers’ labour conflict is
a good example of this. Why is there
this gap between what workers
want, and what union leaders agree
to with management?
That’s a good question. What matters
most to any union leader is having
the trust of their workers; that union
members believe that you are doing
your absolute best to defend their in-
terests. That you don’t bring the work-
ers an agreement until you believe that
you’ve managed to get everything that
you could for them. But there is a lack
of trust in union leadership. You need
look no further than the president of
the Icelandic Confederation of Labour
[Gylfi Arnbjörnsson]. I’m one of those
who have criticised him harshly, be-
cause I think he’s on the wrong track.
He doesn’t base his decisions on what
his own union members want. I think
his fight is more about taking away
people’s rights, instead of increas-
ing them. Like when he said that the
teachers “have gotten theirs.” What do
you hear when you hear the head of all
the unions talking like this? This is why
I’ve said, to his face even, that he seems
to be on the wrong team. He’s more on
the side of management than us.
Do the unions need structural
changes to bridge the gap between
workers and union leaders?
I think the workers need to exert
more influence on their union lead-
ers. When you’ve got your members
behind you, you’re in a much stronger
position. Workers need to get involved,
and let us hear what it is they want to
see in their contracts. And then we, as
union leaders, need to be able to tell
our workers which demands are fair
and realistic. It doesn’t mean anything
to promise your workers to raise their
salaries 100%, and then come back
from negotiations with 5%. You need
to show workers that you can deliver
what you promise.
But for workers to take part in their
unions, they need to be well informed.
Very well informed, and that falls on
us, the union leaders. But also, with
the way social media is today, now
people can get much more involved in
these discussions and have easier ac-
cess to information. Facebook, Twit-
ter, the homepages of unions, along
with the traditional media, has helped
tremendously in this area.
And of course, it isn’t just Icelandic
workers who end up subject to
exploitation.
No, definitely not. We imported some
26,000 foreign workers before the
crash. The employers who exploited
them didn’t just do damage to them;
they did damage to the rest of us, too.
Because these foreign workers were
being paid minimum wages for their
jobs, and very soon, these wages be-
came quite common for workers in
these industries. So we have to watch
out that workers are not just not hav-
ing their contracts violated; we also
need to raise these wages. And it’s still
going on today. The tourism industry
is a horrifying example. And I would
encourage anyone who believes their
employer is exploiting them to come
to us. In order for us to combat this
abuse, we need to know about these
cases. Icelandic society in general con-
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2016
10
Solidarity
Forever
Meet the union leader
pushing for radical
changes within the
unions themselves
“It’s easier to
become the
president of North
Korea than it is to
be the president
of the unions.”
OPINION
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Photo
ART BICNICK
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GPV.IS/V18
demns this kind of treatment of work-
ers. You need only see the reactions of
people when a case of worker exploita-
tion hits the news to see that.
We’ve been reading that the unions
are starting to increase their strike
funds for the coming year, and there
are a number of contracts that will
have to be re-negotiated. What do
you think the next year will bring?
Whenever I see unions in the capital
threatening to go on strike, I don’t
put any particular stock in it. Unions
in the capital haven’t gone on strike
in 40 years. They can talk about doing
this or that, but they never go through
with it. It has only been the unions in
the countryside that go on strike in re-
cent years. I don’t think there will be
strikes next year.
In your utopian Iceland, what
fundamental changes would you see
happening in the Icelandic labour
movement?
I think we have a really good labour
movement in Iceland. Nowhere in the
world are more workers registered in a
labour union, about 90%. We’ve recov-
ered over 400 million ISK in lost wages
for our workers. But we can always
do better. How? We need to stand to-
gether better. And by that I mean Ice-
landic Confederation of Labour. They
need to listen to their people; not just
a closed group of men who make deci-
sions amongst themselves. They need
to listen to the grassroots.
So if I were a regular worker in the
Icelandic market, can I take part in
the elections for a new president of
the Confederation?
If you’re in the Confederation Council.
And as I’ve said many times, it’s easier
to become the president of North Ko-
rea than it is to be the president of the
unions. Members of the council are
chosen. This is usually a group of peo-
ple around the president. These people
are hand-picked, and do not necessar-
ily reflect the demands of workers out
in the country. If we had general elec-
tions within the Confederation, the
president would never get the votes.
This needs to change. I’ve put forward
proposals within the Council to hold
a general election, but it was rejected
with an overwhelming majority. Mean-
while, a Capacent polled showed that
80% of union workers want the presi-
dent to be elected in a general election.
How then can a regular worker
change the system?
I managed to get here, but it took me
many years, and a tremendous amount
of work. If you or anyone else wanted
to get more involved in their unions,
there’s a lot of work ahead of you. But
if you believe in something, anything
is possible.
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