Industrial action involving teachers’ unions in Norway and Denmark: comparing bargaining trends and outcomes

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute to an improved understanding of (1) changes in bargaining models between employer and employees, and (2) differences in these changes in Norway and Denmark. The aim is to explain divergent outcomes of collective bargaining regarding teachers’ working hours in Norway and Denmark. Social media is assumed to reinforce grass-roots rebellion level as well as the internal decision-making structure within the unions. The theoretical framework draws on situational analysis in order to understand how exercising of power at different levels influences the negotiations between employer and employee as well as the outcome. Drawing on situational analysis, the research method has a comparative approach, comparing two case studies, one from the Norwegian context and one from the Danish. The Danish employers’ organisation succeeded to perform major changes after a lock out, whereas the same ambition failed in Norway because of a teacher strike supported by social media. By using a comparative method, based on analyses of the two cases, the author aims to explain possible mechanisms of negotiation. The findings, presented in the discussion, show that new circumstances concerning the work of the teacher unions are disrupting the prevailing industrial negotiation model. The force of social media and newspapers in evoking public sympathy for teacher unions in Norway is an important explanatory factor regarding outcome differences in Norway and Denmark.