Transcript Lysbilde 1

Reconciliation of work and family life
The government schemes designed
to make it possible to combine work and care
by
Ms Arni Hole
Director General,
Department of Family Policies
and Equality Issues
ILO/MLSP Technical Seminar: Implementing the Workers
with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No.156) in
Bulgaria via social partnership.
Speech: The Norwegian Experience:
Legislation, policies and practises to adress the
situation of workers with family responsibilities
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for inviting me to this important event ! I am
honoured of the fact that Norwegian experiences can be of
relevance to others !
Firstly, let me adress the ILO Convention No.156, which
Norway enforced in 1983: The text has been an extremely
valuable source for developping our national policies and new
legislation. We did already have the Gender Equality Law in
place (1979) prohibiting gender based discrimination in all
sector of society and a National Machinery to monitor, we did
ratify the CEDAW in 1981 ( see para.14 of the Preamble) as well as
having a rather strong Work Enviroment Law adopted. However, this
convention has inspired the later development in what we call:
Policies for reconciling work and family life in Norway.
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Secondly, let me associate Norway strongly with the four strategic
objectives of ILO’s diverse tasks:
• Promote and realize standards and fundamental principles and
rights at work
• Create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent
employment and income
• Enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all
• Strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.
Thirdly, the notion of tripartism is at the very basis of the
Norwegian welfare System.
Our tripartite cooperation started as far back as in 1935,
when the first socalled “Basic Agreement” was formed
between the Government (State Party) and the Social
Partners. Certain “traffic rules” of how to negotiate on wages
and tariffs, what main themes should be included, how to
conduct strikes and loct-outs etc. was set down. This Basic
Agreement is seen as a competitive edge by all parties, and
is negotiated every 4th year.
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Some experinces I want to share:
Re-building the post-war Norwegian society, meant setting the Basic
Agreement into practical life:
• All major social reforms, esp. The National Insurance Act from
1966, the largest social reform in Norway ever, were carried
through on the basis of consultations between Government
and the social partners, encompassed in the Basic
Agreement.
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•
The National Insurance Act covers sick-leave, minimum agepensions for all, parental leave scheme, right to leave of absence
for parents with sick children, support to single providers and
disability pensions. Today it is widened and reformed (I will show
that in my powerpoint) but not without broad consultancy
with the social partners before submitted to Parliament.
•
Today the Cabinet meets regularely with the social partners in the
socalled “Contact Group”. Sometimes there is wide disagreement
and media is involved after these meetings – and we experience a
fierce, but open and necessary, democratic public discussion ,
sometimes there are conflicts. But the concensus upon having
such social dialogue, including also other stakeholders as
NGOs and civil society at large, maintains.
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•
Another important and additional democratic device, conducive
to societal development and welfare measures, is the duty to
submit all legal proposals to a wide hearing and consultancy (min.
a 3 month range, when a new legal Act is proposed from Cabinet)
Thus we secure the opinions of all types of stakeholders and levels
of society before Parliament votes upon the law.
•
The role of NGOs promoting human rights, anti-discrimination,
gender equality, childrens rights, equality for disabled and
homosexuals, can never be underestimated. On many
occations, Ministeries arranges meetings, workshops and seminars
together with both the social partners and the NGO’s.
•
Within government, we have traditions for cross-sectorial
cooperation, either through permanent panels/steering
groups/working groups of civil servants or through ad hoc Deputy
Ministers Groups, to head a planning process /legal process or
to scrutinize provisions and policies.
•
Before any discussion of difficult, cross-cutting issues is lifted to
Cabinet meeetings, there is a duty to consult relevant other
Minsteries before closing the document. This secures a balanced
cooperation and complementary action and behavior, within
Government. It is necessary to counteract the sometimes all-tooverwhelming sectorial attitude.
•
Some Ministries, like my own, have spesific tasks designed from
the Cabinet: To coordinate and promote Gender Equality – as to
secure Gender Mainstreaming - in all line-ministeries, or the Child
Perspective-mainstreaming. The Ministry of the Interior and
Regional Tasks, has the duty to coordinate and promote all
policies towards the 430 municipalities of Norway. And so forth.
Back to the tripartism, some early excamples:
• As early as in 1936 Norwegian women got the right to maternity
leave by law, however not paid – 12 weeks.
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•
In 1957 the leave was regulated as paid ( if you were employed).
Agreed upon through the tripartite consultations before made
legal .Thus the employers were prepared and the employees
knew what rights to fight for !( In 1958 this paid leave was
extended to 18 weeks.)
•
Later, in 1966 , with the National Insurance Act, the parental leave
scheme and other provisons for families and supporters were
developped and has been evolving ever since – in compliance with
the Work Environment Act and the Gender Equality Act, the
School Act, the Parent and Child Act, the Family Allowance Act,
the Cash Benefit Scheme Act, the Health Act, the Social Service
Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Family Councelling Office Act and
so forth.
Close link between family policy
and gender equality policy
• The purpose is to facilitate the
reconciliation of family and work-life,
to assure both parents and the single
provider the possibility to combine
family life and work
• A web of arrangements, schemes and
legal measures for families with small
children designed to reconcile family
and work
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Positive correlation between
female employment and fertility
• Norwegian women has one of the
highest birthrates in Europe (1.9)
• The labour force participation for
women, is at the same time on the
top in Europe (69 per cent)
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Important factors for working
parents
• Kindergardens
• Parental leave scheme
• The right to care benefits when child
is ill
• Flexibility in working life
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The parental leave scheme
The legislation related to parental leave
is divided in two parts:
• Working Environment Act: The right
to leave of absence
• National Insurance Act: The right to
Child benefits
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Working Environment Act
• The parents together have right to
one-year leave of absence when they
get a child.
• In addition, each parent is entitled to
another year of leave.
• This means that the parents are
entitled to leave of absence until the
child is 3 years old. If they want to
use this right, the father must take his
share.
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National Insurance Act
• The Parental benefit period is to day
44 weeks with 100 per cent pay, or 54
weeks with 80 per cent pay.
• 3 weeks before and 6 weeks after the
birth of the child are reserved for the
mother. 6 weeks are reserved for the
father, the so- called fathers quota.
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Father’s quotas - a sucsess story
• Norway was the first country to
introduce a father quota in 1993.
Today six weeks of the benefit period
are not transferable to the mother.
• 90 per cent of the fathers who have
the right to this quota, make use of it.
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Challenges for gender equality
• In the labour market women still earn
less than men; 15 percent on an
average per hour.
• 4 out of 10 women work part-time
• 16 per cent of the female part-time
workers wants to work full time
• Pregnant women are exposed to
discrimination
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Our work on reconciliation of work and
family life
• The Government will propose to
expand the father’s quota with 4 new
weeks
• An Equal Pay Commission to
investigate reasons, and elaborate on
what can be done to narrow the wage
gap, by March 2008
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Relevant links
• The Norwegian Social Insurance
Scheme
http://www.odin.dep.no/aid.english
• The rights of parents with small
children
http://www.odin.dep.no/bld.english
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Closing remarks:
The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) is
member of European Trade Unions Confederation (ETUC)
and also ITUC (International Confederation of Trade Unions);
as is the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises (NHO)
member of UNICE.
Both work through the European Social Dialogue – the
european instrument where the social partners can decide to
negotiate on voluntary basis, or they can be asked by the
European Union (the Commission) to negotiate on certain
issues; if agreement is reached on an initiative from EU, it
becomes EU-law (also for Norway).
Within Government, the over-all responsibility to monitor
and report on the ILO-conventions, lays in the Ministry of
Labour and Inclusion. However, in close cooperation with the
other line ministeries – like my own.
Thank you for your attention; I am prepared to answer questions.
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