Appointment as SCMO
Mr. Aðalsteinn Leifsson was appointed State Conciliation and Mediation Officer (SCMO) in 2020 for a five year period. His term of appointment began on April 1st 2020.
Operating under the Ministry of Social Affairs, the role of the SCMO is to mediate in wage disputes, monitor the situation and outlook in industry and in the labour market and keep a register of collective bargaining agreements in force. The position is grounded in the Act on Trade Unions and Industrial Disputes, No. 80/1938, as amended. According to the Act, the SCMO is to be appointed for terms of five years at a time. The person appointed must be an Icelandic citizen, financially solvent and with an unblemished criminal record, and must be seen as having a perspective conducive to impartiality in matters concerning employees and employers.
Education
Mr. Leifsson holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Iceland, an MSc in European Studies from the London School of Economics (LSE), and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.
Experience
From January 2014 until February 2020 Mr. Leifsson held the position of Director at the European Free Trade Association, EFTA, which is headquartered in Geneva, Brussels and Luxembourg. Alongside those duties, he served as assistant professor at Reykjavik University, where he taught negotiations and conflict resolution.