The tripartisanship is a collaboration between the organizations that represent employers, employees and the state. This collaboration contributes to regulation of the workplace through negotiations of rights and obligations. The model aims, among other things, to even out power relations between the parties and ensure that as many people as possible are working.

But not everyone feel they can be openly queer in the workplace. Queer people often have poorer living conditions, and fewer are employed in comparison to the rest of the population.

According to the quality of life survey conducted by Statistics Norway (SSB) in 2020 and 2021, within the age group with highest numbers of working participants, only 75% of people who considered themselves anything other than heterosexual stated that they were working. Young non-heterosexuals in particular state that they were not able to work. In the age group 25-29, this was the case for as many as 12%, a number four times higher than in the same category for heterosexuals.

How do we ensure that workplaces are open and inclusive? What should the union representatives do to ensure an inclusive workspace? What role has the trade union played in the fight for queer rights? And what does tripartisanship do for queers in the working place?

CC: Free