Oil service company threatens to fire employees who participate in the strike
The oil service company Schlumberger Oilfield UK (Part of SLB UK) are threatening to fire people if they strike. -This is totally unacceptable behavior from a company operating on the Norwegian continental shelf, Ommund Stokka deputy leader of Indusrti Energi, says.
The British company writes in a letter to their employees that they don’t recognize Industri Energi as representative for their british employees, and that the union therefore does not have the right to negotiate on their behalf.
The management writes further that they will conduct individual conversations with each employee, or through a recognised british union representative, in a Teams meeting Wednesday afternoon. They emphasize how important they think it is that the employees participate in this meeting.
Schlumberger Oilfield UK/SLB UK have a contract to do well stimulation on the Ekofisk field in the south part of the North sea. The vessel «Island Captain» is used for the contract.
Industri Energi’s demand is that the OSA agreement is to be applied for the employees onboard. The mediations were concluded without agreement last Thursday, and Industri Energi have notified a strike from midnight on March 30th if our demands are not met.
In the letter signed by operational manager Michael Bachmayer in SLB UK, the employees are told that the notified strike is considered an illegal industrial action, and any participation is against British laws and thus a violation of their contract.
-They are threatening to fire the emplyees participating in the strike, Ommund Stokka in Industri Energi says.
He is appalled by the leadership’s approach.
This is an attack on the freedom to organize, he says.
Stokka ensures that Industri Energi are discussing different ways to follow up. -We are considering a number of ways to approach this, through our own channels in the industry, politically, legally and through actions, he says.
