The company Norautron in Horten has now sent notice of dismissal to 81 of its employees. Norautron has produced the charging station for the charging company Easee, which is currently in dire straits. The Swedish supervisory body Elsäkerhetsverket questioned Easee’s chargers in February. On Tuesday last week, the message came: Full stop of sales in Sweden. It is now having consequences for Norautron, which gave notice of dismissal to 81 of its employees on Tuesday. CEO of Norautron Group, Øyvind Sedivy. Norautron in Horten has 325 employees. Photo: Philip Hofgaard / news – I am unfortunately afraid that the conflict with the Swedish Electricity Safety Authority will extend well over six months, which is the current rules for layoffs. Therefore, we have unfortunately had to make redundancies, says CEO of Norautron Group, Øyvind Sedivy. The representative of Norautron, Tom Christian Tverrbakk, says they are taking care of the employees who have received notice of dismissal. – This is a workplace where people have stayed because of the good working environment. That is why this is difficult for many, he says to news. The company has ongoing discussion meetings, which means that there may be changes in the number of redundancies. Electronics manufacturer Norautron has to lay off several employees due to Easee problems. Photo: Norautron – Terribly sad The company has had a production agreement with Easee since its inception in 2018, but now the production of Easee chargers has come to a complete halt. – Norautron has been our partner in growth and the employees there have taken great ownership and pride in our products. This is what Easee production manager Rune Nessa says to news. – We thought this was terribly sad. It is an incredible shame that this situation we are in affects so many people and families. Easee’s charging boxes have been refused sale due to the fact that they do not meet requirements for earth fault circuit breakers and DC protection. Photo: Tom Edvindsen / news Sales stoppage in Sweden The reason is said to be what the Swedish authorities believe are errors and deficiencies in their charging box Easee Home. Easee disagrees, and has both appealed and asked for a temporary injunction. – We strongly disagree with what has been communicated by the Swedish authorities now. And we have documentation that can underline that, said founder and general manager of the company, Jonas Helmikstøl to news last week. However, a decision to stop sales in Sweden also stops sales in Norway. We are part of the same EEA regulations. So far, the Norwegian authorities have not concluded, but the National Communications Authority (Nkom), which is the responsible professional authority, has stated that it is not dangerous to use the chargers. In any case, the sales suspension has had major consequences for Easee. Before the weekend, it was announced that around 100 employees will be made redundant. Siri Raustein is an employee representative at Easee. Photo: Easee Tough situation Afterwards, there has been a tough situation in the company. – This is primarily a challenging and unfamiliar situation for both the company and the employees, write the employee representatives Magnus Eikemo Stavik and Siri Raustein in Easee in an e-mail to news. Stavik and Raustein work as video production manager and event manager respectively in the company. They are both employee representatives in the working environment committee, but Stavik is also the chief health and safety representative. They explain that there have been reactions after the news of the redundancies came out. – When you are faced with temporary redundancies, it is quite natural that people react differently, and that you then get reactions from the entire spectrum of emotions, they explain. Norautron, for its part, works to look after its employees. – We try to get as many of those who are made redundant as possible into new jobs with other companies. In addition, we are of course working to attract other customers, says Sedivy. Representative Tverrbakk is in close dialogue with those notified. – They are satisfied that measures have been initiated to try to get more people into other jobs, he says. Around 81 people will lose their jobs at Norautron in Horten. Photo: Philip Hofgaard / news Keeping their spirits up As of Tuesday this week, no one at Easee has received this announced layoff notice. According to the employee representatives, this is an ongoing process and the employees will be informed when a possible layoff notice has been communicated. – We keep our spirits up and do what we can to take care of each other and Easee in the situation we are in now, they say. According to news’s knowledge, the employees will receive more information about the layoffs on Friday. According to the employee representatives, they have full confidence that the management will make the right decisions going forward. The charging company Easee is in dire straits. Now the sales stoppage in Sweden also has consequences for the manufacturer of the charging box. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news The company Easee was established in 2018 by three founders. Today, they have close to 500 employees and have sold around 700,000 chargers throughout Europe. The company has grown at record speed, and from 2019 to 2021 they went from having a turnover of NOK 94 million to NOK 1.4 billion.
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Has produced Easee chargers. Now 81 employees in Norautron will lose their jobs – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
