Norway Oil Service Firms, Unions Fail to Reach Wage Deal
Posted by Eric Haun
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Wage negotiations between Norwegian oil service workers and their employers failed early on Wednesday, the Industri Energi trade union said in a statement.
The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, which represents the employers, separately said the negotiations had been put on hold for the time being.
The talks cover about 6,500 union members at around 60 companies that are suppliers to the oil industry.
If the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the next move could be a round of mandatory negotiations hosted by a state-appointed mediator.
Workers are not allowed to strike unless forced mediation has been attempted.
It is not yet known whether there could be an impact on Norway's oil and gas production if a strike were to happen. "We don't know which (oil services) companies could be affected. So it is impossible to say what the consequences could be," said a spokesman for the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association.
Separately, workers under the so-called well-services agreement began forced mediation on Wednesday. If no deal is found, a strike will begin on Thursday. Employers reiterated that there would be no immediate impact on Norway's output of oil and gas in case of a well-services strike.