STUDY Trade Unions in Norway Coordinated Wage Bargaining and Workplace Level Co-determination KRISTINE NERGAARD November 2014 n The Norwegian unionization rate(52 per cent) is lower than in the neighbouring Nordic countries. Although the unionization rate has remained relatively stable, key challenges arose in parts of the private sector and as a consequence of large-scale labour immigration in recent years. n Approximately two-thirds of all employees are covered by a collective agreement. Opening clauses are not being used, and there is no tendency towards a shift from multi-employer to single-employer bargaining. n Labour immigration has spurred the Act on General Application of Collective Agree­ments to be brought into use as from the year 2004, thereby introducing a principle for wage formation that has previously been absent from Norwegian industrial re­lations. Today, selected minimum terms of collective agreements are generally ap­plied in the construction industry, in shipbuilding, in agriculture and in the cleaning industry. n Lately, the use of sub-contractors and of temporary employment agencies as well as of cheaper labour from abroad has become more widespread, resulting in problems both of unionization and application of collective agreements. Still, the introduction of a statutory minimum wage has so far not been on the agenda of the trade unions and is not likely to be in the foreseeable future. International Trade Union Policy