Social economist and director at the Frisch Centre, Simen Markussen, believes that the salmon industry has far too generous regulations when it comes to redundancies. – If the salmon industry has laid off its employees every year, they have had the public sector cover part of the wages. In that way, they have received a form of state aid that I believe they should not receive, he says. If a Norwegian employer lays off its employees, they must as a rule pay wages for the first 15 days. But this is not the case in the fish processing and seafood industry. There, the employees can receive unemployment benefits from the state from day 1. Under special circumstances, employees can also be furloughed for up to 52 weeks, during a period of 18 months. In addition, it operates with much shorter deadlines. In this industry, layoffs are allowed with three days’ notice. In other industries, 14 days apply. Got a layoff notice every single year for 18 years Dag Oddvar Hallaråker has previously worked in the farming industry, and was employed for 18 years in a company in Western Norway. – It was common practice that we received layoff notices in the New Year because there was less to do then. I think that happened all the years I worked there, he says. Hallaråker says that the employees did not really question this practice. – We talked a bit about it, but that’s how it was. We didn’t react that much to it, he says. – But it wasn’t always that we had to be at home, sometimes there was a bit of work. But it was the precautionary principle that applied. He points out that he has always had a good relationship with the company, and that so far the employees have not suffered any hardship. – There was usually a lot of work and overtime before Christmas. Dag Oddvar Hallaråker says layoffs around New Year’s are a well-established practice. Photo: Private – Difficult to understand Senior researcher Markussen believes the salmon industry should have been subject to “ordinary” layoff rules, and not followed the special rules for the fishing industry. – Sometimes you don’t get to the quay due to bad weather, or you don’t catch fish or you don’t catch fish for several days or weeks. This may explain why fish processing has special rules, says Markussen. But this is not necessarily the case for the farming industry. Most of the facilities are safely inland, almost equally exposed to weather and wind. The production is industrial, and characterized by great predictability. – It is difficult to understand why slaughterhouses for red fish should have more generous rules than slaughterhouses for red meat, says Markussen. Which layoff rules should apply to the farming industry? The rules they have now The same rules as regular companies Uncertain Show result 135 layoff notices due to normal fluctuations Chief union representative in Salmar, Hans Stølan, tells news that layoff notices around New Year’s are common practice for the entire industry. – There is usually a slight dip in the season just around the New Year, because there is a lack of raw material then. We often buy salmon from other players, to try to limit the number of people who are made redundant, says Stølan. On 14 November, Salmar announced the layoff of over 800 employees. The notice came seven weeks before the layoffs take effect. Salmar then clarified that 135 of the notices were due to normal fluctuations and lower slaughter volume in the winter months, and not the basic rent tax. Stølan fully supports his employer in the ground rent tax as justification for the rest of the layoffs. When asked why people are not more critical of the fact that layoffs tend to happen every year, he says that it is simply how the industry has worked for a long time. – We try to minimize redundancies as much as possible, there is no desire to make people redundant. There is a battle for workers and redundancies don’t exactly make us more attractive. Tool to be used during unforeseen events Markussen believes layoffs are a tool to be used during unforeseen events, such as the corona pandemic. He uses slaloming facilities as an example of the salmon industry’s layoff practices: – A slaloming facility cannot lay off its people every single year because there is no snow in the facilities in the summer. Markussen reacts to the fact that the salmon industry uses redundancies as a fixed seasonal rule. – I find it difficult to see how this is in line with the regulations, and wonder how and whether NAV has assessed this as they should, he says. When it comes to applications for unemployment benefits, NAVS’ guidelines state that they must look more closely at any history of layoffs in the business in question. news has tried to get a comment from NAV on how this works in practice, but has so far been unsuccessful. Relating to the regulations as they are now, Aina Valland, head of communications and public relations at Lerøy Seafood Group ASA, claims that the company very rarely lays off its employees. – The layoffs we have had were due to a lack of raw materials, and not a lack of customers as we see now, she points out. She says they have not decided whether the aquaculture industry should reconsider the special rules, but that they relate to the regulations as they are now. Head of communications and public relations at Lerøy Seafood Group ASA, Aina Valland, claims they usually make very little layoffs. Photo: Hans Ludvig Andreassen / news Seafood Norway to consider the criticism Confederation secretary Yngve Hansen of the trade union Norwegian Business and Leisure Workers’ Association (NNN) also believes that the salmon industry should reconsider its regular layoffs. Hansen told news this week that the special rules for layoffs should no longer apply to the salmon industry. Therefore, at the last national meeting, NNN decided that they should assess whether the farming industry should be excluded from these special rules for those on furlough. Communications director at Sjømat Norge, Øyvind André Haram, tells news that the unique lay-off scheme is under investigation by them. – We register the arguments and take them into account. We will take this up at the next board meeting, says Haram.
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Social economist believes the farming industry should follow normal lay-off rules – news Troms and Finnmark
