Iceland
The ITUC affiliates are the Althydusamband Islands (Icelandic Confederation of Labour), the Bandalag Starfsmanna Rikis og Baeja and the Icelandic Confederation of University Graduates (BHM).
Iceland ratified Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association
freedom of association
The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.
See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in 1950 and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
(1949) in 1952.
Legal
Freedom of association / Right to organise
Freedom of association
The right to freedom of association is enshrined in the Constitution.
Anti-Union discrimination
The law prohibits anti-union discrimination.
Right to collective bargaining
Right to collective bargaining
The right to collective bargaining is recognised by law.
Right to strike
Right to strike
The right to strike is recognised in the Labour Law.
In practice
Workers within the whaling company Hvalur hf have been informed by the company that they may not be members of a labour union that recently won a back-wages case against them in court. A lawyer for the union believes this measure is illegal.
Vilhjálmur Birgisson, chairperson of the Akranes Labour Union (Verkalýðsfélag Akraness), says that when workers showed up for a meeting with management representatives for Hvalur hf., they were informed that no one working for Hvalur hf was allowed to be in the Akranes Labour Union anymore. They were told to instead join the West Iceland Labour Union.
Vilhjálmur believes this order is meant to “punish” his union. RÚV reported on 14 June that the High Court had ordered the whaling company to pay about half a million Icelandic krona to a former employee for breach of contract. This case was filed by the Akranes Labour Union.
A lawyer for the union has filed a complaint against Hvalur hf, contending that this ban of theirs is “completely illegal”, referring to Iceland’s existing laws on labour unions.