Trade union members and strikes, 2004

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and The Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS) had about 839 000 and 202 000 members respectively - a decline of 7 300 members from 2003. The decline in YS was about 1 000 members, and this organization organized roughly 200 000 persons. The Confederation of Higher Education Unions (UHO) increased the number of members by 6 000 up to 237 000 compared with 2003. The Federation of Norwegian Professional Association had 138 000 members, an increase of 5 800.

The four large main associations have about 93 per cent of all union members.

Employers' associations

The Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) organized 16 200 member enterprises with 493 000 employees in 2004. This was the same amount of enterprises as in 2003.The number of enterprises with a tariff agreement amounted to about 6 800 with 384 000 employees. This was a decline of 100 enterprises.

The Federation of Norwegian Commercial and Service Enterprises (HSH) had 10 000 member enterprises with 136 000 employees in 2004. This was an increase of about 1 000 enterprises compared with 2003.The number of enterprises with a tariff agreement amounted roughly to 3 300, a slight decline from 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 2004.

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