Labour Disputes & Blown Glass

Hey there, beloved High Five Club members and prospective members,

It's your friends at the Reykjavík Grapevine (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), popping back into your inbox with a hello and to share the the latest from the northernmost capital in the world.

The biggest headline in Iceland these days is the ongoing labour dispute (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) between the Efling labour union and the Icelandic Confederation of Business (SA).

Efling members are many of the people who keep society functioning — including a huge number of people in the service and tourism industry, as well as truck drivers and much more. Union members voted to begin strike action on Feb. 15, withdrawing the labour of 500 employees from the Íslandshotel and Berjaya chains, as well as from the Reykjavík Edition — Iceland's only five-star accommodation. Read more on that here (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Now SA has dropped a live grenade onto the negotiating table, voting overwhelmingly in favour of imposing work stoppage on Efling union members. Read more about that right here (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Why do business owners have the option of punishing employees for exercising their right to strike? How does that make any sense whatsoever from the perspective of labour laws? What's the purpose of trade unions when that poison pill exists?

No really, someone explain it to us. We're stumped.

What we're not confused about is being big fans of people exploring their craft while recycling materials. That's why we paid a visit to the Kjalarnes studio of glass blower Anders Vange. Check it out:

That's it from us this week. As always, thanks for your support. 

<3 Team Grapevine

If you were a member of our High Five Club, this post would have included sweet discount codes for the Grapevine store and travel portal, and a hint about what to expect in our issue out next week. Want that?