Norwegian public sector workers and Attac Norway work together for public services

Fagforbundet, the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, has joined with Attac Norway to organize against the privatisation and outsourcing of municipal services that is sweeping the country through a new policy known as “New Public Management.”

The two organizations have been working together to expose where private companies are putting the profits they take from their municipal contracts.

“We know that a lot of profits go to tax havens – and the money often travels via commercial welfare companies that work for the municipalities,” explained Benedikte Pryneid Hansen, Chairwoman of Attac Norway. 

“Fagforbundet collaborates extensively with different communities and NGOs in Norway, with whom we have common interests and shared goals, and Attac is one of these,” said Fagforbundet President Jan Davidsen. “The wider alliances and the larger networks we have, the more easily we can achieve our common goals.”

Attac Norway has produced a new tax haven campaign guide that calls on municipalities to officially ‘say no’ to companies using tax havens. 

The tracking of these private companies should be made easier starting in 2014 when companies will be required by the Minister of Finance to disclose their accounts for every country in which they operate.