Strike shuts down four Equinor fields in the North Sea
The trade union Lederne has stepped up its strike on the Norwegian continental shelf from Sunday midnight.
As a result of the escalation, Equinor has conducted a controlled closure of the fields Gudrun, Gina Krog, Kvitebjørn and Valemon.
A total of 54 members of the trade union Lederne will be on strike at Gudrun, Gina Krog and Kvitebjørn. The Valemon field must be shut down because it is linked to Kvitebjørn.
Production at the Johan Sverdrup platform continues for the present. 43 members of Lederne have been on strike there since Wednesday morning.
The strike is the result of a breach of mediation in the negotiations between the employer organisation Norwegian Oil and Gas Association and the trade union Lederne.
Jan Hodneland, chief negotiator at Norwegian Oil and Gas, says:
“We presented a financial offer which was accepted by the Norwegian Union of Industry and Energy Workers (Industry Energy) and the Norwegian Union of Energy Workers (Safe). These represent 85 per cent of the offshore workforce. The smallest union, Lederne, rejected the offer and opted to strike. It has also demanded that the area covered by the collective pay settlement is expanded – which falls outside the scope of the negotiation over the offshore agreements.”
Falling within the framework agreed in the lead sector settlement, the offer from Norwegian Oil and Gas represents a growth in real pay and was made in identical terms to Lederne, Industry Energy and Safe.
Under the settlement, offshore workers are set to receive:
- an overall pay rise of NOK 4 700
- an increase of NOK 3.50 per hour in the shift and night-work supplement, to NOK 80 per hour
- a rise in the conference supplement to NOK 100
- an increase in the allowance for working on public holidays from NOK 2 025 to NOK 2 060 per day.
