Rowan has agreed with Industri Energi to not use the so-called Secondment Agreements in the company. – This is very important and contributes to better protection of the employees, says National Secretary Fraser Knox.
A settlement has been reached in the forthcoming court case which was set to start on April 18th on the issue of Secondment Agreements in the rig company Rowan Norway.
I’m extremely pleased that we succeeded in bringing an end to the use of Secondment Agreements in Rowan, says National Secretary Fraser Knox in Industri Energi.
-Rowan now agrees with us that new appointments will take place through permanent employment in Rowan Norway Ltd. If by chance, there will be a requirement for temporary manning this will be arranged pursuant to the Collective Agreement and the Working Environment Act. It should also be agreed with the local branch of the trade union.
Norwegian law does not address Secondment and people who are employed on such agreements are allegedly not covered by the Working Environment Act. They risk being removed from work on the day.
Positive step forward
Fraser Knox boasts about Rowans will to cooperate with the union in this case. – This is a positive step ahead. And both the company and the local union want to build on this cooperation in the future, he said.
Knox points out that the question of Secondment Agreements is not resolved in all companies yet.
– In Prosafe there may be a lawsuit on the issue. We hope the new agreement in Rowan may lead to other issues on Secondment Agreements now being solved. Secondment Agreements are social dumping and circumvention of the Norwegian Working Environment on the Norwegian shelf. Which will never be accepted, says Knox.
Very happy
The leader of the Local Branch in Rowan, Stein Thore Haga and his Deputy Kent Hettervik, are extremely pleased that the company now terminates the use of Secondment Agreements.
-The local union has struggled with secondments since they were introduced in 2012, and the fight has finally paid off. The matter on Secondment Agreements has been fundamentally important for Industri Energi in Rowan, since conditions on employment that bypasses Norwegian law could become the future situation for all of us, says Haga and Hettervik.
The Agreement means that those currently employed on Secondment Agreements and continue to work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf will be offered a Norwegian standard contract and employment in Rowan Norway Ltd, explains Haga.
-Kent Hettervik emphasises that it is really so great and appreciated that the company showed great willingness to find a solution.
Signing of the agreement was the happiest moment in my work within the trade union. The company has shown great willingness to work together, which I think will bear fruit in the future, he said.
