News - 08.10.2026

VR Board Approves Termination of Collective Agreements

At its meeting on the evening of 7 October, the VR Board approved the termination of the union’s collective agreement with Samtök atvinnulífsins due to a failure to meet the agreement’s underlying assumptions. Under the assumptions clause of VR’s collective agreements, notice of termination must be given before 4:00 p.m. today, 8 October 2026.

Since August, VR has been trying to reach an agreement withSA on how to respond to the serious failure to meet the underlying assumptions of the collective agreements, but without success. Large groups of VR members have accepted reductions in real wages for two years in the hope that interest rates would fall and inflation would decline. This has not materialised, and the underlying assumptions of the agreements were no longer met in August.

VR has been working with LÍV and Fagfélögin, which have jointly put forward numerous proposals for a solution, including additional wage increases and new assumptions clauses. However, SA has rejected all the unions’ proposals. The government has also put forward proposals to facilitate negotiations, but these efforts have not been sufficient. Unless circumstances change, VR will therefore terminate the agreement today.