See also: Questions and answers about strikes

Rules for strikes: The Labour Disputes Act and the Civil Service Disputes Act

In Norway, the right to strike is strictly regulated. For the private and municipal tariff areas, the Labour Disputes Act applies, while the state sector follows the Civil Service Disputes Act.

This legislation originated as a compromise between trade unions and employers in 1916. The laws set strict limitations on when it is legal to strike, but also provide employees with important rights and benefits:

• It is not legal to strike when a valid collective agreement is in place. Therefore, one can only strike when the collective agreement is terminated in connection with wage settlements, or if there is no collective agreement at all. In addition, political strikes may occur.
• If the rules are followed and the strike is therefore legal, the employer cannot refuse employees to return to work after the strike has ended. Employment relationships are terminated collectively and restored automatically.
• The National Mediator has the right and duty to postpone a notified strike until an attempt at mediation has been made. If negotiations between the employer and the employee break down, the mediator will therefore normally summon the parties to mediation. The law sets a deadline for how long the mediator can spend on this, which is why mediation usually ends up taking place between two and four weeks after the breakdown in negotiations.

Strike selection

Every time we go to the negotiating table in the central settlements, we also prepare for a strike. Who should we call out on strike so that it is felt as much as possible by the employer? Can we spare innocent third parties and still hit the employer so that we achieve what we want? How many should we call out? Who are the other trade unions calling out? All of this influences who is selected for the strike. The strike committee makes a decision on this.

Initially, we submit a so-called notice of termination of employment (plassoppsigelse), or area notice. This is a list of businesses where strike action may occur, and an approximate number of strikers. If a conflict is imminent, the strike committee works with the employee representatives in the businesses to obtain an updated list of those who will strike. We call this "strike list scrubbing."

This list must be submitted to the National Mediator and is called a notice of resignation (plassfratredelse). Those included on this list temporarily terminate their positions and can strike in a legal manner. These constitute the first withdrawal, or phase 1 of the strike.

If the employer does not give in, the strike may need to be escalated. Then a list with additional names must be submitted to the mediator, and again the law sets a deadline for how far in advance this must happen. New withdrawals in this way constitute phases 2, 3, 4, and so on.

Targeted strikes and All-Out strikes

If the negotiations cover only one or a few businesses with only a few hundred employees, it is common to call everyone out at once. We call this an All-Out strike. It is then often difficult for the employer to maintain operations, unless there are many unorganized workers.

If the tariff area is large, such as in the state sector, we cannot call everyone out. Then we select a sample based on the considerations described above for a targeted strike. Thus, it ends with a selected few striking on behalf of everyone. What is important to note about a targeted strike is that everyone in the tariff area is in conflict with the employer as long as the strike lasts, even if only a few are laying down their work. When in conflict, there should be no cooperation between the parties or main agreement meetings, and one should not perform tasks beyond normally agreed work that could dampen the effect of the strike.