Trade union members and strikes, 2003

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) had about 839 000 members and The Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) 202 000 at the end of 2003. Compared with 2002 this was an increase of 38 500 members in LO and 1 500 members in YS.

The increase in the number of LO members are mainly due to the formation of a new union called Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees. The new union consists of the former "Norwegian Association of Practical Nurses" and "Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees".

The Confederation of Higher Education Unions (UHO) had an increase of 9 000 members to 232 000 in 2003. The Federation of Norwegian Professional Association had 133 000 members, an increase of 5 000.

The four large main associations have about 93 per cent of all union members - an increase of about 3 per cent from 2002.

Employers' associations

The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) organized 16 300 member enterprises with 503 000 employees in 2003. This was an increase of 150 enterprises but with the same amount of employees as in 2002. The number of enterprises with a tariff agreement was about 6 900 with 390 000 employees - an increase of 70 enterprises but a decrease of 6 000 employees from 2002.

The Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises (HSH) had 9 400 member enterprises with 115 000 employees in 2003. This was a slight increase in the number of member enterprises from 2002.The number of enterprises with a tariff agreement increased from 3 800 in 2002 to 3 900 in 2003.

About the statistical basis

The statistics cover employers' and nation-wide associations for wage earners that assist their members in wage agreements and wage negotiations and the main associations to which the individual organizations belong. Organizations that limit their activities to questions of a purely professional nature are not included in the statistics. The number of members of nation-wide associations for wage earners includes all registered members and includes nonworking students, pensioners etc. The statistics cover the number of members per 31 December 2003.

For more information, contact liv.tove.hytjan@ssb.no telephone +47 62 88 54 43, or harald.lunde@ssb.no, telephone +47 62 88 55 52.

Tables:

• Table 1 Central organizations and other nation-wide associations for wage earners. Members per 31 December
• Table 2 Employers' associations, total. Establishments and persons employed per 31 December
• Table 3 Employers' associations. Establishments with wage agreement and persons employed per 31 December