Leiðsögn - Iceland Tourist Guide Association is an trade union for tourist guides and was founded in 1972. By that time, most its 27 founding members had already worked as tourist guides for many years. They realised the necessity to form an association to establish themselves as professionals and to negotiate a common salary for their services. Training courses were held to enrich the members’ knowledge and skills.

The Iceland Tourist Guide Association’s first commitment is to promote and increase the professional quality and integrity of its members. Its second commitment is to negotiate salaries for its 1300 members who are able to provide guiding services in 21 different languages.

The Iceland Tourist Guide Association represents the interests of all professional tourist guides in the country. Full membership of the Icelandic Tourist Guide Association is granted to those who have passed a comprehensive one-year training programme, approved by the Ministry of Education and authorised by the Icelandic Tourist Board.

The Iceland Tourist Guide School (Leiðsöguskóli Íslands), established in 1976 and Continuing Education ( Endurmenntun Háskóla Íslands), University of Iceland meets this criteria. Further, only members who have full membership may wear the association’s quality logo, a circular badge with the inscription: “Island Guide”.

The Iceland Tourist Guide Association is a member of the Icelandic Confederation of Labour (ASÍ). It has the exclusive nationwide right to negotiate wages for all tourist guides working in the country. Icelandic labour law clearly states that the association’s wage agreement represents the minimum salary payable to all tourist guides working in Iceland, regardless of the their nationality or for which company they work.

Act on the rights and obligations of foreign undertakings that post workers temporarily in Iceland and on their workers’ terms and condition of employment, No. 45/2007

A list of certified tourist guides in Iceland can be found here. Tick boxes for enska = English, þýska = German, franska = French. Another 18 languages are available.

The Icelandic Tourist Guide Association is a member of the Inter-Nordic Guide Club (ICG) and the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (FEG).

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Office opening times: Mon – Fri 12-15 (GMT all year) Tel: + (354) 588 8670 Email: info@touristguide.is

The aim of the measure is to ensure, to the extent possible, that firms keep workers on their payrolls, rather than dismissing them. The maintenance of employment relations is of value to both workers and businesses. It is important to protect workers against the consequences of a temporary contraction in the economy so as to minimise the negative financial and social effects suffered by each individual.

A business may ask its employees to agree to a reduction in working time with an equal reduction in pay only on the condition that it has been forced to reduce its operations because of the current unusual situation.

A reduction in working time with reduction in pay can only take place on the basis of an agreement (see link below this pdf on the website) concluded between the employer and the employee.

Main features of the legislative provisions providing for the payment of unemployment benefits in cases of reduced working time:

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]Any decision to implement reduced working time for reduced pay must be based on an agreement concluded between the firm and each individual and stipulating the proportion by which working time is reduced and the period during which the reduction will apply.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]The reduction in hours worked must be at least 20 percentage points.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]The number of hours worked after working time has been reduced must correspond to at least 25 per cent of full-time hours.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]Partial unemployment benefits are paid out in direct proportion to the reduction in hours worked.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]The sum of wages received from the employer and unemployment benefits paid is limited to 90 per cent of the pay earned prior to the reduction in working time taking effect, and may not exceed ISK 700,000.

[if !supportLists]o   [endif]Workers whose pay for a full-time position prior to the reduction was ISK 400,000 or less will receive full compensation.

[if !supportLists]o   [endif]Workers whose pay for a full-time position prior to the reduction was higher than ISK 400,000 are given a guarantee that the sum of wages received from the employer and unemployment benefits paid will not fall below ISK 400,000.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]Agreements on reduced working time for reduced pay do not affect workers’ rights to receive wage-related unemployment benefits if they lose their jobs at a later date.

[if !supportLists]o   [endif]Students at the university level are entitled to receive partial unemployment benefits if they meet the conditions laid down in the legislation.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]Workers’ rights to receive payments from the Wage Guarantee Fund are safeguarded in cases where an employer becomes bankrupt.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]Self-employed persons are covered by the legislation.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]The legislative provisions outlined above are to remain in force from 15 March to 1 June 2020.

A few points of clarification:

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]If a firm requests that its employees agree to a reduction in working time with an attendant reduction in pay without a period of notice, an employee may refuse to accept this and may insist that the period of notice be respected.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]An employer may not require a worker to put in longer hours of work than stipulated in the agreement on reduced working time.

[if !supportLists]o  [endif]The right to receive unemployment benefits as a compensation for reduced working time applies to all workers, including students at the university level, irrespective of their rights to other benefits.

How to apply for partial unemployment benefits

Workers apply for partial unemployment benefits by filling in an electronic form in the My pages section of the website of the Directorate of Labour. The employer concerned must also provide certain information on its pages on the Directorate’s website. The application for partial unemployment benefits can be processed as soon as both the worker and the employer have entered the required information.

For more information:

www.asi.is