Industri Energi already has over 1,400 members on strike across 10 different companies. The new ones being taken out are distributed among 655 members at Hydro Aluminum Sunndal, 444 members at Alcoa Mosjøen and 16 members at Bilfinger Industrial Service Norway. The escalation has been announced from Monday next week. – We are stepping up the strike to put increased pressure on the employers in Norwegian Industry, says confederation leader Frode Alfheim. Hydro’s aluminum plant in Sunndal is described as Europe’s largest for the production of primary aluminium. Alcoa in Mosjøen produces so-called aluminum nodes. 3 out of 10 soda caps in Europe come from metal from this factory. – The fact that we are now also taking parts of the aluminum industry out on strike means that it is really starting to sting for the employers, says Alfheim. – Clear dissatisfaction – What are you striking for? – When we went into negotiations this year, there was a clear dissatisfaction among local union representatives for the salary development locally, says Alfheim to news. – We have demanded local sanctioning rights as a means of speeding up the local wage negotiations. The heirs’ side has flatly said no to that. The strike in the electrochemical industry started on Monday 15 August after mediation was broken on Saturday evening. The CEO of Norsk Industri, Stein Lier-Hansen, says that having a strike in a modern process industry is “extremely serious”. – Very dramatic which can also weaken the will and ability to invest in this type of industry in Norway, says Lier-Hansen. It is too early to say how costly the strike could be, says the director. Stein Lier-Hansen is CEO of Norsk Industri. Photo: Patrick da Silva Sæther / Patrick da Silva Sæther – Why has it not been possible to reach an agreement? – The demand that I believe led to the strike is the demand for local right of action in connection with local wage negotiations. It violates principle in Norway. – The unions can go on strike in the central negotiations, but the main principle is that through the local wage negotiations an agreement must be reached without one having the right to action on either side. He also points out that, statistically, two-thirds of the salary development takes place through local negotiations, and he believes that the local salary negotiations have paid off well. – The industrial workers we are talking about here are among the highest paid in Norway. If we say the average is 100 per cent, these are up to 113 per cent. They had a better wage settlement than other industrial workers last year, for example. Have to spend several days on shutdown At Elkem Rana, 89 of around 130 employees have already gone on strike. The strike came as a surprise to shop steward and club leader Gøran Loftfjell. Gøran Loftfjell is leader of the Rana chemical association and club leader at Elkem Rana. He and 88 colleagues at Elkem Rana have gone on strike. Nevertheless, he has to work for five more days. Photo: Frank Nygård / news – I have worked at the plant for more than 20 years, but have never been on strike before. But once must be the first, he says. But they have not put on their strike vests and prepared a stand. Loftfjell and his colleagues have to work for several more days. The two smelting furnaces at Elkem Rana produced around 75,000 tonnes of ferrosilicon and 25,000 tonnes of microsilica last year. Elkem Rana Elkem Rana annually produces approx. 120,000 tonnes of Ferrosilicon and Elkem Microsilica in two melting furnaces using renewable hydropower. The products are mainly used for steel and cement production. – It’s not just turning the key and leaving the melting furnaces we have, according to the club manager. Gives exemptions It takes five days to cool down the ovens. This means that Elkem must have a dispensation from the strike until the furnaces have cooled down. It is a dispensation that the employees fully support. If the cooling does not take place in the right way, it can have major consequences. Cooling takes five days, but getting the ovens operational again can take anywhere from one to two weeks. At worst, it could be a month, according to Loftfjell. – If that happens, the plant will lose money and our employees risk layoffs. Verket i Rana produces ferrosilicon, and they have been doing so since the end of the 1980s, when Norsk Jernverk shut down production. Photo: Frank Nygård / news A controlled shutdown ensures that the ovens are as they should be when the conflict is over. The strike starts on Wednesday Nor have they brought out the strike vests at Elkem Salten in Sørfold in Nordland. Here, 169 out of around 200 employees are now on strike. Jan Harald Karlsen is club leader at Elkem Salten. Photo: bente h johansen / news Today they were visited by the strike management of Industri Energi. Club leader Jan Harald Karlsen says that the smelter is in the process of a controlled shutdown of the three furnaces. – We are following an agreed ramp-down plan. It is not just a matter of stopping momentarily. But on Wednesday we can pick out our strike vests, says Karlsen. – Everything we do now is with a start-up in mind. If we do it too soon, we will have major problems with a start-up. Industri Energi is hiring 169 members at Elkem Salten Verk (pictured) and 89 members at Elkem i Rana. Neither Karlsen at Elkem Salten nor the club manager at Elkem Rana thought there would be a strike. – We had hoped they would come to an agreement during the mediation. We hope to get back into operation before we have time to close down, says Loftfjell. Believes money is flowing into the company In July, Elkem’s earnings for the second quarter were presented. The result ended at NOK 12.3 billion. That is up 68 percent from the same quarter in 2021 and a record high. – When money flows into the industry, the employees must also get a share of that pie. We have helped earn that money, so we should be rewarded in a salary settlement, says club manager Loftfjell. And adds: – A daytime worker here does not earn that much more than someone who sits in the till at Rema. But it varies, depending on education and whether you work a lot of shifts, says Loftfjell. Working to map consequences The industrial strike is a result of the parties not being able to reach an agreement in the collective national negotiations between Norwegian Industry and the Trade Union Industry Energy, arranged by the State Conciliator. – We are working to map what the strike means for each individual facility. The strike covers four of Elkem’s six works in Norway. Beyond that, we refer to Norsk Industri, says communications manager Hans Iver Odenrud at Elkem to news. Any consequences will also be affected by the duration of the strike.
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