Today, a further 1,115 employees in the processing industry went on strike. Thus, the strike includes over 2,500 Industri Energi members, after there was a breach with Norsk Industri. The strike affects, among others, Hydro Aluminum Sunndal, Glencore Nikkelverk in Kristiansand and Alcoa Mosjøen. At the aluminum plant in Mosjøen, 444 members are now on strike. Aluminum is produced here, which, among other things, goes into 3 out of 10 soda cans in Europe, and into European cars. The production is very power-intensive and the plant uses around 2 per cent of Norway’s total electricity consumption. That is why they are on strike The main demand of the union is to get local right of action in place at the companies. Since the collective agreement for the electrochemical industry is a minimum wage agreement, most of the settlement takes place locally in the companies. In recent years, the clubs in the industry have felt that no real local negotiations have taken place, and that the employees have not received as large a share of the cake as they deserve. The negotiations must relate to four criteria: The company’s finances, competitiveness, productivity and future prospects. Director Carla Botten-Verboven is responsible for the legal department in Norsk Industri. She says they are prepared to find a solution, but that the requirement for a local right to strike makes it difficult. – The right to sanction is now at central level. In the local negotiations, we have the four criteria to go by. It is important that they do not become a right of sanction. This must be done in cooperation with the shop stewards with trust as a starting point. Then, if necessary, you can take the questions of principle at central level every year when we have tariff negotiations. Carla Botten-Verboven is responsible for the legal department in Norsk Industri. She says they are prepared to find a solution. Photo: Tone Buene “Go slowly” action unusual Researcher Kristine Nergaard in the research foundation Fafo says that local sanctions in industry are very unusual. Today, it is only in a limited part of the industry where you can take action locally, or so-called dagsing, explains Nergaard. – The employees who are organized in Industri Energi will have a greater opportunity to put more pressure on the employer side, says Kristine Nergaard in FAFO. Photo: FAFO – What happens in the industry is that much of the wage formation takes place locally at the individual company. It must be negotiated based on economics and competitive conditions. If no agreement is reached, it is usually the employer’s offer that applies. That is what they want to get measures to counteract, she says. At the same time, she is clear that the employer side is unlikely to want to transfer local sanctioning rights to other areas or parts of the industry. – If you get a local right of action within this tariff area, Norsk Industri and NHO can expect that there will be demands for the same in other tariff areas at the next main settlement in 2024. I think that will be very far in on the employer side. Will switch off 9 out of 10 ovens The escalation of the strike means that 370 out of a total of 404 ovens at the company in Mosjøen will be switched off. There are very special circumstances surrounding this strike, and it will take many days to shut down the furnaces. Even if the strike starts on Monday, it will take many days before the strike is put into practice. This means a loss of several hundred million kroner. The first furnace was started in February 1958. And although some of the furnaces have been replaced, operations have never been scaled back on such a scale before. Stian Nordal Jensen is leader of the Mosjøen chemical workers association. Photo: Lars-Petter Kalkenberg / news – It will be very dramatic. And very expensive. Metal prices are high, and restarting production is not cheap either, says leader Stian Nordal Jensen of the Mosjøen chemical workers union. Kristine Nergaard in FAFO is excited about how long the strike will last. – I think that the parties will try to find a solution quite quickly, so the question is how easy or difficult it is to arrive at something that both can live with. – How demanding is this? – We have heard how demanding it is to shut down the aluminum works. It takes a long time. And it takes even longer to get them back up to normal production. So there are probably quite a few employers in the aluminum industry who are not sleeping well at night.
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Can cost several hundreds of millions – news Nordland
