Solutions Through Dialogue!

Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (NUMGE) is the largest union in Norway with nearly 350 000 members. We have more than 100 different occupations represented. This great number of members and diversity gives NUMGE both strength and responsibility towards society development. These days there are a restructuring of the municipalities and regions going on in Norway. Our well known systems change into something new we don’t know. The aim for this restructuring is to run the municipalities and regions for less money. In many municipalities they use the opportunity to rethink about how to provide service to inhabitants. The Public Library Act requires at least one library in each municipality. This will probably lead to a reorganization of the Norwegian library landscape. How can a trade union support the librarians/employees in difficult and demanding processes? And how can the libraries use the opportunity to rethink about their role in society? Dialogue is the key! The Norwegian society is based on a model with tripartite cooperation where the employees/unions, the employers and the government negotiate to reach agreement on working conditions. Norwegian employees are familiar with this system and expect to contribute to find the best solutions. The union has been an important part of the restructuring processes and the library employees is the most important contributors to recreate the libraries for the new times/needs. Our poster will show examples.