Wednesday morning at 10.00 the LO secretariat gathers for an extraordinary meeting. Then or on Monday, the first deputy leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik (60) will be appointed as the new LO leader.
Peggy Hessen Følsvik is the first deputy leader of LO and can be elected new leader next year. Photo: Berit Roald
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9. mars 2021 17:20
Last updated just now
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On 6 May, LO’s representatives will elect Peggy Hessen Følsvik as the new leader until the congress in the spring of 2022. It has been postponed for one year due to the pandemic. LO’s supervisory board is the organization’s highest body between congresses. LO holds a congress every four years.
At the LO congress in 2022, she can be re-elected as leader if the proposal to raise the age limit for shop stewards is adopted.
On the table of the congress representatives, it is already clear that there will be a proposal to change the articles of association, so that Hessen Følsvik can stand for election if she wishes.
The proposal to raise the age limit for eligibility was clear long before Hans-Christian Gabrielsen’s death. This is in line with decisions in several LO unions.
According to the current articles of association, no one can be elected to LO’s management after they have turned 60 years old. If this is changed, Følsvik can be selected. On Tuesday, she herself would not answer whether she saw herself as a candidate when the postponed LO congress is arranged in the spring of 2022.
– It’s too early. We are in shock and grief. Today we think first and foremost of Hans-Christian’s family, says Følsvik.
LO is now entering the election campaign with Følsvik as leader. It is also expected that she will take over Gabrielsen’s place on APS ‘central board.
—-Are Tomasgård (52) a hot name to take over as LO leader. Photo: Trond Isaksen
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If the new LO leader is to be found among the current LO leadership, Are Tomasgård (52) is also a relevant name. He was elected as LO secretary at the LO congress in 2013 and was re-elected in 2017.
Tomasgård has, among other things, been LO’s representative on the Labor Party’s program committee. Among other things, Gabrielsen chaired the election committee in the Labor Party ahead of this spring’s national meeting.
If it is Tomasgård and not Hessen Følsvik who takes over that position, it will be a signal that he is sailing up, explains a central source in LO for Aftenposten.
—-Jørn Eggum is the leader of Fellesforbundet. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
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There is no shortage of candidates to persuade as LO leader. Gabrielsen was only 53 years old and many reckoned that he would sit for at least another 10 years. Names that are mentioned include the Commonwealth’s powerful leader Jørn Eggum (48). Gullsmeden from Bergen is a highly profiled trade union leader and today also a member of Aps central board.
—-Frode Alfheim is pointed out as the possible leader of LO. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB scanpix
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Another union leader who is mentioned is Frode Alfheim (53) who heads the union Industry and Energy. He has a long career in LO, including as LO secretary. He also has extensive experience as a political adviser in several ministries in various Labor governments as the party sat alone in government.
—-Mette Nord is the leader of the trade union. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB
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Mette Nord is the leader of the powerful trade union, which is LO’s largest. She is 62 years old and thus basically not eligible for election as LO leader. But if the articles of association are changed, she will certainly also be perceived as a candidate. But it is expected that Nord will seek re-election in its own union. Nord is also a member of Ap’s central board.
LO has had certain problems recruiting people for the management. Many trade unionists perceive key positions in large unions as more important than sitting on the LO leadership. The only exception is to be an LO leader who automatically gives a significant position and not least political influence.
LO’s leader has always been a member of the Labor Party and has sat on the Labor Party’s central board.
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