– Not being able to live a normal life when you are 50 and alone with a child is like being pushed out of society by the Vinmonopolet, says “Nora”. news knows the identity of “Nora” and the others in this case, but has given them names other than their own. The fear of the consequences of coming forward is too great. During her four years as an employee of Vinmonopolet, “Nora” has had many different contracts in several stores. The smallest contract was for 2.5 hours a week. After that, it has gone up somewhat, often in temporary contracts, and then lowered again. The salary has thus been unstable. In “Nora’s” case, the work situation has meant that the well-grown woman cannot get a loan to buy a home. news has seen documentation of this. – Powerlessness and violation are what I know, she sums up. Vinmonopolet denies that there is a culture of fear in the company. She and several others news has been in contact with tell of a struggle to get extra guards beyond what they have on contract in order to get enough income. Vacations they dare not plan in case job opportunities arise, babysitters on standby for any time, dinner appointments with a caveat. Many have a full-time job trying to get enough work and you don’t have time for anything other than just walking around being stressed because you don’t get enough work and have enough money to pay the rent next time month. “Martin” By always being available, “Nora”, “Martin”, and “Sara” have for several years in practice worked full-time, or close to it. But by not having all their hours contracted, they lose the rights and predictability that others with full-time contracts have. Such as, for example, scheduled shifts, paid holidays and membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse. Membership there they only have rights to with a contract of 7.5 hours or more. At the same time, they carry the fear of not getting enough hours next month. The fact that they do not get more hours on the contract provokes them. – They obviously have hours to give us, since we keep getting extra shifts. Then we should also have the opportunity to get them on contract, says everyone news has spoken to. One of those news has spoken to asked for an employee interview with his boss. She had applied for the same position she has already held for many years, only with more hours. – I can’t live on four hours a week, so I had hoped to get more hours. I would have been happy for just a few extra hours. It had helped my life so much, says “Sara”. Most part-time “Nora”, “Martin” and “Sara” are far from the only ones with a part-time contract at Vinmonopolet. This is shown in the annual reports of the state-owned company. – There are many part-time employees in Vinmonopolet. This is what Halvor Bing Lorentzen, director of communications and social responsibility at Vinmonopolet, writes in an e-mail to news. Read the full response from Vinmonopolet further down in the case. “Sara” didn’t get any of the classes that were bright. Nor was she called in for an interview. The store management says in the meeting with “Sara” that there were applicants with more management experience, despite the fact that this was not part of the announcement. news has heard the audio recording from the meeting, which confirms this, and seen the announcement. – They could at least have me for an interview. What I’ve done in that store, all the trips I’ve been on, and everything I’ve put in extra means nothing to them. They don’t care that we feel comfortable in a shop and want to stay there, says “Sara”. For “Sara”, the few hours on contract mean that she has to commute to the neighboring municipality for extra shifts. There will be many hours on the road that she could spend on the children. How many people work involuntarily part-time in Vinmonopolet is difficult to say. But news has spoken to several people who confirm “Nora”, “Martin” and “Sara”‘s story, but they do not dare to speak. Not even anonymously. They claim it could have consequences. After the request for more shifts has been presented to the boss, workplaces disappear from the list. Vacant shifts are no longer displayed. On-call bids they give are refused and overtime is offered in places the bosses must have learned that they are unhappy. “Nora” was placed in a shop with little customer contact where she did not feel comfortable. – I couldn’t stand it, says “Nora”. She was called in sick and later took time off to work with someone else this summer. In August she went back. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I had to go back. I have no other job. And I love the job, but not the culture where you are afraid of the management if you raise something. “Nora” Vinmonopolet says this is unknown to them. – There are allegations here of a culture of fear for the management, and a fear of being punished by not getting guards. It is a shame that some employees have such an experience, but this is not something we recognize among employees at Vinmonopolet. That’s what Halvor Bing Lorentzen, in Vinmonopolet, writes in the e-mail. Read the full answer at the bottom of the case. Intimidation culture In 2018, two employees went to the Disputes Board with a demand to get a contract corresponding to the hours they had actually worked in the last 12 months. You are legally entitled to that, if it has been even and without temporary contracts with the extra hours. The employees prevailed and were to receive larger contracts, but Vinmonopolet was not finished with the matter. They took it on to the District Court. The women also won there, and thus avoided court costs. But the match had a financial risk. Both in the form of not obtaining a larger contract, and perhaps having to pay court costs. Theodor Falconer Sundal is a lawyer at Dalan Advokatfirma. He first heard about the issues raised in this case about a year ago, but few have become his clients. Sundal says that several people have contacted him by phone and e-mail to have their case assessed. – But when they have understood that it involves a larger process with the Vinmonopolet, they have not wanted to go any further. They are afraid there will be consequences, he says to news. He states that employees have the right to report objectionable conditions in the company according to the Working Environment Act. – I consider it problematic that employees who raise these issues experience being met with sanctions such as changes to their employment contract or experience being given fewer shifts and being reassigned, he says. Hard to find anything else I feel like a slave. Because the thing is, if I were to resign and want to start something else, it would be a big and upheaval decision that would make things much worse for me for many years to come. “Martin” It is alcohol that he is an expert in, and it is Vinmonopolet that has “trained” him and the others for what they do at work. It’s not just finding a new job in what he loves where the pay is good without formal education. This applies to everyone news has been in contact with in this matter. Several of those we have spoken to received temporary contracts during the corona of up to 100 per cent. The same as they worked in practice for several years before the pandemic hit. Now that the pandemic is largely over, they have to go back to their old contracts with a few hours of fixed work a week. Again the hunt for guards starts. The stress has increased, says “Nora”. – We have more part-time employees than before the pandemic who want the same shifts. Nevertheless, they continue to work. As a state-owned company with a monopoly on the sale of alcohol for home use in Norway, employees news has spoken to feel that Vinmonopolet has a monopoly on their expertise. They feel they have nowhere else to go. – We live with it here, and we do it because we love what we do, says “Martin”. – It is such a big scandal that a state-owned company goes on like this. I can’t keep my mouth shut anymore, says “Nora”. From the end of August, she has had to receive unemployment benefits from Nav in addition to her current permanent contract of 10.5 hours a week. news has also seen documentation of this. – The whole thing is very strange. Because it must be better for society to have an extra person who works more at Vinmonopolet than to have an extra person who goes to Nav, as it is almost the same state fund, says “Nora”. This is Vinmonopolet’s response to the employees’ statements Photo: Gunhild Hjermundrud / Gunhild Hjermundrud Vinmonopolet has received a request to respond to what the employees say in this case. Here is the answer Halvor Bing Lorentzen, director of communications and social responsibility at Vinmonopolet, gives in an email to news: First, I would like to say that yes, there are many part-time employees at Vinmonopolet. Some work part-time at will and some could wish for more hours than they currently have. We strive to ensure that those who wish to receive contracts as large as we are able to give, and we work actively to improve the situation for those concerned. There are, however, some natural explanations for why we unfortunately do not have the opportunity to offer everyone who wants it as many hours as they would like up to full-time. The most important reason is that more than 70 per cent of our customers come in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a normal week and it is on these days that we have a greater need for employees in the store. On the first three days of the week, there is not enough customer traffic or turnover to have as many people at work as towards the weekend. It is also the case that every fourth Vinmonopol is closed one or more days a week because there is not enough customer base to stay open any longer. 22 shops are only open 12 hours a week, four hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We have a requirement in our assignment letter from the Ministry of Health and Care to operate cost-effectively, and all our stores must cover their own costs. We cannot therefore be open when we do not have customers, and all employees cannot therefore have a full-time job. In addition, there are large seasonal fluctuations with us, where we have significantly increased customer flow at Easter, around May holidays in the summer and at Christmas. During the pandemic, sales in Vinmonopolet increased by almost 50 per cent. This is because Norwegians bought their alcohol at Vinmonopolet when the travel business and thus cross-border trade and duty-free sales stopped completely. During this period, many part-time employees have been given more hours at work. Now, when Vinmonopolet’s sales are on the way down again, with a 20 per cent reduction in the first half of this year compared to last year, there is no longer a need for so many extra hours in our stores and we are on our way into a normal situation. We have been working for some time now to see how we can increase the size of part-time contracts and the number of full-time contracts with us. We are working on a project where a number of different solutions are being assessed. This work started in 2018 and is carried out in collaboration with our largest employee union. There are several of the solutions we have looked at so far that we want to test in the future, in order to remedy and increase predictability for management and employees. This work also involves looking at the average calculation of working time for part-time, because in this way it is more in line with actual working time. Vinmonopolet does not want to have many employees on low part-time contracts, but in order to increase the number of employees, we have to have more people to play with. Our agreement states that those who work a lot must have every second Saturday off, and as most of the shops are open six days a week, the duty schedules do not go up if we cannot play for more people, and at the same time there is not enough work for everyone working full time. A contract of, for example, 2.5 hours per week sounds small, but it is typically someone who works every other Saturday for 5 hours, who is a student or does it in addition to other work. We have had a desire to formalize this work and have offered a contract as we think it is better than just being extra or on-call help. In a part-time employment that does not only have a Saturday contract, we aim for the contract to be for more than 7.5 hours a week, which is the entry point for membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse. There are allegations here of a culture of fear for the management, and a fear of being punished by not getting guards. It is a shame that some employees have such an experience, but this is not something we recognize among employees at Vinmonopolet. Vinmonopolet is a company where employees are largely happy at work and want to stay for a long time. Our latest employee survey shows that overall for Vinmonopolet there is a good working environment with high commitment and good leadership. The average length of employment at Vinmonopolet is 16.9 years. As regards the allegation of punishment for having been on sick leave, this is also not something we are familiar with, and we cannot comment on individual cases.
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Part-time employees in Vinmonopolet claim they are being chased between short contracts – Norway
