Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson

Experience in community engagement

I worked for Örninn from 1992 to 2016, first during school and later as store manager and sales manager. I was on the board of VR from 2009 to 2017 and have been chairman of VR since 2017. I’ve been chairman of the Commercial Federation of Iceland since 2019, am on the board of directors of VIRK, I hold a seat on the executive board of the Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ) as first vice president.

I was involved in establishing the Homes Association of Iceland (Hagsmunasamtök heimilanna) in 2009 and served on its board for a time. I have served on the board of startup companies and was on the board of the Commercial Research Center (Rannsóknarsetur verslunarinnar). I was on the board of the Citizens’ Movement (Borgarahreyfingin) when they ran for Parliament and was involved in establishing Bjarg Rental Association, where I am a deputy member of the board. I am also chairman of the board of Blær, BSRB and ASÍ's new housing association. I have held a number of positions of trust at VR and ASÍ during the past 14 years. I was a member of the VR ethics committee in 2009, and participated actively in the industrial democraticisation of the union and bringing the election of its leadership to the members. I’ve been active in a number of projects involving charitable causes.

Community engagement:

• Member of the board of VR from 2009 to 2017
• Chairman of VR from 2017 to present
• Chairman of the Commercial Federation of Iceland (LIV) since 2019
• Member of the executive committee ASÍ since 2018
• Vice president of ASÍ since 2020
• Establishing member of the Homes Association of Iceland, 2009
• Member of the board of the Homes Association of Iceland from 2015 to 2017
• Founding member and member of the consultative council of Bjarg Rental Association
• Member and deputy chairman of the board of Bjarg Rental Association since 2017
• Chairman of the board of Blær Rental Association since 2022
• Member of the board of Virk Vocational Rehabilitation since 2017
• Member of the board of the Commercial Research Center (Rannsóknarsetur verslunarinnar)
• Member of the board of the Citizens’ Movement, 2009
• Parliamentary candidate for Dawn (Dögun), 2016

Main focuses

Following up with VR's demands during the ongoing collective wage agreement negotiations in which the main emphases are the four-day work week (32 hours), expansion of sick pay rights, a 30-day holiday entitlement, industrial democracy, and improved wage conditions for middle income groups. Reviewing the categories of benefits of VR’s funds. Doubling death benefits, implementing a parental grant, and subsidising psychological services. Promoting union activities and following up on a number of issues pertaining to vocational training and equality. Housing and loan issues are a major priority, such as emergency measures in response to significant increases in housing loan payments and rental costs and followup on the further development of Bjarg and Blær, where initial construction has begun on rental apartments for VR members, the first of which are scheduled for delivery in the autumn of 2024. Pension fund issues concerning investment in developing economically effective housing. The removal of employers from the board of pension funds. Fighting against the profound corruption in Icelandic society.

The fight against complicity and corruption

The public must take control of the pension funds. The strong position that employers hold on the boards of pension funds has prevented these funds from investing in the development of the housing market, from building housing for the old, the young, and ordinary rental apartments as is done everywhere else in comparable countries in Europe. Through the efforts of the industries, these funds have also sat by as idle majority owners of the largest businesses on the market, thus defending unconscionable corruption and self-dealing in the business community and a financial system characterised by unfathomable greed and increasing demands for profit.

The pension funds have sat by as many companies are gutted from the inside out by giving presumptuous minority owners all the power under the protection of the majority of the funds. A small but nonetheless significant example in this context is Stoðir (formerly FL Group), who made the decision to sell Míla, previously a part of Síminn, who had a high profile as a minor shareholder under the protection of idle pension funds. Stoðir’s actions are far reaching and now affect the financial system, for example by flirting with the idea of a merger between Kvika and Íslandsbankinn. And that's how the funds uphold known racketeers’ strategies for short-term profit and risk taking, utterly indifferent to the potential long-term impact on ordinary people’s and fund members’ standard of living. Social responsibility always rests on the shoulders of the workers while the fat cats are spared.

The standard of living struggle isn’t just about a fatter paycheque. It is also about lowering the cost of living. It’s about fighting corruption and rejecting the unbridled indulgence of politics in special interests.

I’ve been a member of VR for over 30 years. I’ve been a board member from 2009 and have served as chairman since 2017. I wrote my first articles about corruption in Icelandic society about 16 years ago, and today they probably number in the hundreds. It’s the same old corruption, but it's changed. It seeks out new channels to flow through, just like water. There's no less corruption now than there was then, it’s just different now; if you stamp out one form of corruption, a new one emerges. Politics and the complicity of the pension funds play a key role in keeping corruption alive because the most important weapon in the fight against it is transparency and restraint.

Inflation and interest rate hikes are a matter of great concern
But who benefits from inflation and who loses? Businesses and the financial system have profited handsomely from this situation, and the numbers are alarming. 2021 was a record year for business profits, and 2022 is shaping up to break all previous records. But why is that? Purchasing power is in decline and infrastructure and basic services are slowly but surely crumbling out from under us. Why on earth does it have to be this way?

The answer is incredibly simple. The government has all the tools to soften the blow to the public and balance things out. Just as most civilised European countries have done, interventions like rent ceilings, modest interest rate hikes, and windfall taxes on excessive business profits can serve as ways of meeting the increased need for support for the public and of strengthening the foundations of infrastructure. Attack society’s fat cats instead of giving them preferential treatment and urging them on, in unquestioning loyalty. Attack the government that's been in power for five years and faced the same problems year after year but done nothing. At the same time, they ensure that nothing is taken from the coffers of the richest minority and that nobody trifles with the power and wealth of those who treat our resources as if they own them. Instead, the nation’s leaders have made things easy for this small but greedy lot through various actions and inaction. Accumulation of capital in fish farming is probably the most recent example of many.

This deeply entrenched corruption is self-sustaining and has settled in comfortably in all areas of administration. The Central Bank is a loyal servant of the same corruption - the secrecy surrounding the Central Bank's investment programs and the Lindarhvoll affair, where it seems impossible to obtain information about who received a discount, where the money came from, and who bought (or was given) Lindarhvoll property at scrap value. Not to mention the enormous shift from households and businesses in debt to the banks with massive key interest rate hikes. Hikes and shifts which are without precedent in comparable countries.

For years, the healthcare system has been in decline. For years, the housing market has been on the rocks, the rental market a battlefield where well-equipped investors are pitted against vulnerable renters.

In the aftermath of the American housing market crash that precipitated the 2008 recession, lobbyists for the wealthy were quick to identify culprits and lay the blame on “poor people, immigrants and teachers” (quote from the film The Big Short.) In Iceland, it was flat screens. Businesses and owners of capital continue to profit. Despite this, why are ordinary people’s trips to Tenerife and wage negotiations are implicated as the greatest threat to stability?

Inaction kills
There’s a good reason why the current negotiations will be the most important in decades if all goes well. In the aftermath of the recession, the labour movement and the political power bloc were intertwined. So intertwined that the movement was caught in a deadlock while the government at the time did all it could to oblige the wealthy and the demanding at the cost of the people, with terrible consequences This must not happen again. The warning signs are all there and have been for a long time. It’s never been so important to elect leaders with the will and the ability to provide the resistance that we need. There are no total victories in this battle. This is a ongoing battle, a battle for better wages and living conditions and a battle to defend the existing values and rights that are constantly being stifled. This is a battle against self-dealing, greed, and corruption.

Negotiations for a long-term collective wage agreement officially began on January 19th of last year with discussions about vocational training matters and how to continuing education can empower members in this time of automation and technological change. Discussions about remote work, a 32-hour work week, and a 30-day holiday entitlement began in March, followed by industrial democracy and the democratisation of pension funds, expansion of sickness rights, and so on. Negotiations are scheduled for the rest of the year on the basis of the demands that about 6,000 VR members had a part in formulating.

Housing - the big issue
We’re facing enormous challenges in this regard. Emergency measures are needed to confront people's changing housing costs, including higher rent and loan installments, and to address the concerns of those who fixed interest rates on their loans by bringing them under review over the next 12 to 24 months, when the burden of loan payment will as much as double in one area. These huge increases in housing costs come on top of all the other cost increases in our society, such as overall higher prices of products and services and duties.

We also must see to it that the massive developments in the housing market don't end up in the hands of racketeers. I am a deputy member of the board of Bjarg rental association, and we aim to have 1,000 apartments built before the year ends - a feat achieved in only five years. I am also chairman of the board of Blær, BSRB and ASÍ's new housing association. Construction is set to begin in the coming weeks and the first apartments are expected to be delivered early next spring. VR is financing the first project, the construction of 36 apartments in Úlfarsárdalur, which will only be available to VR members. In the last wage agreement negotiation, we agreed to significantly increase the investment authorisations of pension funds in order to facilitate this development, which is based on a European model of economically-effective solutions with financial stability, housing security, and modest profitability as guiding principles.

Blær will build in a way that is economical for all income and age groups, for rent as well as for purchase, It will implement an equity loan system for young people and those who have suffered financial difficulty.

I will continue to collaborate with a number of associations working for the public interest. Collaboration between VR and the Consumers’ Association of Iceland has been particularly effective, some examples of which being the campaign and legal action against microlenders and the ongoing legal action against the banks for burdensome and illegal terms and conditions for housing loans.

We have been extremely active in many areas of the fight for rights. Our campaign for equality, Third Shift, was recently chosen as the word of the year. We have also collaborated with the Federation of Trade and Services (SVÞ) on matters of vocational training at the secondary and university levels. With the Digital Competence Wheel and the Digital Skills Cluster, a collaboration between SVÞ, VR, and Reykjavík University, VR is a leader among labour unions in the digital revolution.

The biggest issues are the collective wage agreement negotiations and the situation within the labour movement. Good work has been done following the ASÍ conference on the Confederation’s complex situation, and this work continues to go well. Work meetings have been held and ideas put forth for how to engage ASÍ so that it can be a more powerful force. A positive dialogue has also begun regarding the agreement within the movement during the negotiations currently in progress.

One third of the population has trouble making ends meet, and this group is growing rapidly. This alarming development removes all doubt about the importance of a powerful labour struggle and the upcoming collective wage agreement.
For years, the healthcare system has been in decline. For years, the housing market has been on the rocks, the rental market a battlefield where well-equipped investors are pitted against vulnerable renters.

Inflation is in large part a home-grown problem for which the government and the Central Bank are responsible. The situation today is man-made. It is determined by people who make informed decisions about priorities, about who should be protected and given preferential treatment. There will be no question of the government’s priorities or of what groups within society will be saddled with paying the treasury’s deficit of the past few years after issuing endless grants to businesses during the pandemic. The government’s special measures for children and rental benefits do little to curb the increase of net interest income and the banks’ excess profits, or the 434 billion ISK net profit of businesses in 2021, or the even greater profits from 2022. We must respond by correcting this unfair game. This requires courage and fortitude and diligent attention to our interests.