Oh dear, it is going to be very quiet in down town Bergen over the next few days. Much of the Norwegian Public Sector, including teachers, cleaners, government and tax officers and harbour pilots is on strike over pay.
That means that the cruise ships, which are Bergen's bread and butter in the summer, will be unable to come into port. According to the port authority, two are expected today, four on Thursday, ome on Friday, two Saturday and four again on Monday. Considering each cruise ship carries around 3,000 passengers and crew it means that the tourist trade will suffer quite alot. What a shame when the weather is so good and you can enjoy the views from the top of Fløyen, which is an absolute must if you visit At NOK70 per return trip on the funicular (only locals and idiots like us take the steep path up, which takes 40 minutes!) that means a loss of approx. 2.5 million kroner to the railway!
The town will feel very quiet this weekend, thta's for sure!
The strike by the way is over a half percent difference between what the state is offering and what the unions require. Apparently despite the doom and gloom elsewhere, Norway's union bosses feel that 4.25% is a fair increase for their members across the board, while the State is budgetting for 3.75%. Since no-one seems able to get either party back to the negotiating table at the moment, it seems everyone will have to just enjoy the weather as best they can and try not not sit downwind of the ever increasing piles of rubbish appearing around town (bin men on strike too). For now, there seems to be no sense of urgency, I guess the weather is too good!
As for support, it appears to be mixed. Some parents support the strike, but those who have to go to work must be finding it difficult to find someone to help out over several days.
Apparently a qualified pre-school teacher with 20 years' experience earns NOK 419,000 p.a. (about £42,000 p.a. or US$69,000 p.a.), which considering the cost of living isn't that much. My average shopping basket (not including beer or wine!!) costs double that in the UK. Our second hand, 2 year old Honda Civic cost NOK172,000 (£17,500, US$28,300) - they did try to convince us we had made a good deal though at the garage as it has 2 sets of wheels, one for winter tyres and one for summer tyres. Wow!
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