Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.06.2017, Side 12

There’s been a lot of hype lately about
the arrival of American low-price re-
tailers Costco in Iceland. Icelanders
have been practically over the moon
about the things they sell that you
can’t buy here, the lower prices at Cost-
co for things that you can buy else-
where in Iceland (including petrol),
and the fact that their bottled water
costs less than the per-bottle mon-
ey you get from waste management
company Sorpa when you recycle with
them. What hasn’t been discussed in
Iceland is what Costco employees in
this country are being paid.
Costco has a great reputation in the
US when it comes to workers’ rights. In
a country largely absent of a national
healthcare system and with a weak-
ened federal pension fund, Costco em-
ployees enjoy both health insurance
and a 401k. The average hourly wage
of a Costco employee in the US is also
over $20 per hour. Iceland already has
national health and several pension
funds (for now), but what are the Ice-
landic Costco employees getting paid?
The short answer: more than our
own unions require, which raises
questions about how much our unions
fight for their workers.
Our unions
don’t demand much
Iceland does not have a minimum
wage; rather, wages are decided by
collective bargaining negotiations be-
tween the respective labour union for
a profession and management. VR is
the labour union to which Costco em-
ployees in Iceland belong, as the union
confirmed for us by phone. They also
confirmed that Costco employees are
paid in accordance with the existing
collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
for workers in their field, and we were
directed to a copy of this agreement.
According to this agreement, as
of May 1 2017, beginning full-time
12 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2017
Costco’s Wages
Go Beyond What
Icelandic Unions
Demand
Maybe our unions need to work harder?
Words: Paul Fontaine Photos: Art Bicnick Share this: gpv.is/usi09
ANALYSIS
Costco employees get a better deal
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