Negotiators headed off a strike of 29,000 Norwegian industrial workers on Sunday with a "moderate" wage-and-benefits hike that could set the tone for other labour talks this spring across the oil-rich economy.
Strikers had threatened to picket about 800 companies, including units of oil company supplier Aker Solutions , aluminium producer Hydro, defence contractor Kongsberg Defence and clothing maker Helly Hansen.
"We have an agreement, and we consider it moderate," said Finn Langeland, spokesman for the Federation of Norwegian Industries, which represented employers in talks that extended more than 12 hours past their deadline.
The new two-year framework contract for mainland industrial and technology workers was expected to form the basis of subsequent talks affecting the offshore oil sector, government employees and other major job groups.
Langeland said that under the deal, total compensation would rise 2.15 percent, with additional costs to be added in company-level talks. Norway's central bank expects 3.75-percent average wage growth nation-wide in 2012.
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