News - 03.07.2025
Workplace inspections South Iceland
The Icelandic Confederation of Labour conducted a workplace inspection initiative in the tourism sector from June 23rd to 25th, which took place at Geysir, Þingvellir, and Gullfoss in the south of Iceland. Participating in the initiative alongside the confederation were the South Iceland Police, the Administration of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Directorate of Internal Revenue. The focus was primarily on tourism companies.
The aim of the initiative was to examine whether tourism companies had all the necessary permits and were in compliance with laws and regulations. The wages and working conditions of tourist guides, driver-guides, and coach drivers were reviewed to assess whether salaries were being paid in accordance with collective agreements. The initiative revealed a considerable number of cases where laws were not being followed and collective agreements were being violated.
Several foreign companies in the area lacked the required permits, and some drivers had to make arrangements to transport their passengers in other ways, as they did not have the proper licenses for passenger transport. A number of independent contractors were spoken to in the area who, by rights, should be employed as regular employees by companies, but had been pushed into contract work at the employer's initiative. By doing so, companies reduce their wage costs but at the same time deprive their employees of rights guaranteed by collective agreements. In some cases, these contractors were marked as part of the company and driving vehicles on its behalf. Such bogus contracting is viewed very seriously.
There were also instances of companies entering into so-called 0% contracts with employees. In such cases, the company hires the worker with no guaranteed working hours, and the worker is expected to take all trips they are assigned. If no trips occur in a given month, the worker receives no pay.
It is clear that there are widespread issues in the tourism industry, and increased monitoring of the sector is much needed. Additional initiatives are planned in the near future, and we encourage tourist guides and others to submit tips to us via the Workplace Inspection tip button on the VR website.
We also direct tourist guides to the VR website, where they can find detailed information about their rights, various collective agreement provisions, and contracting work. VR recently hosted a lecture with experts from the Directorate of Internal Revenue, and the presentation slides are available on the VR website. (Icelandic only)
Kolbrún Júlía Erlendsdóttir, Chair of the VR Division in South Iceland
and Halldór Kolbeins, Chair of the Tourist Guides' Division in VR
