The Norwegian Union of Energy Workers SAFE has started a strike among offshore maintenance workers after wage negotiations with Offshore Norge ended without a collective agreement.
SAFE said 154 oil service workers stopped work at 10:00 local time on Monday. A further 224 workers were set to join the action on Thursday.
The affected employees work for SLB, DOF Subsea, Halliburton, Weatherford, Tios, DeepOcean, Cactus, Subsea 7, Vetco Gray, and Baker Hughes.
The dispute covers pay and working conditions for personnel involved in oil well maintenance and servicing. SAFE said this part of the sector has fallen behind other oil industry bargaining areas in both wages and employment terms.
The union said the gap has built up over the past five years, leaving the segment one full wage settlement behind other collective agreements in the oil industry.
SAFE area manager Martin Skogland said the union had expected this year’s settlement to change that direction, adding that workers were losing ground financially and in terms of workplace conditions and rights.
Elisabeth Brattebø Fenne, chief negotiator at Offshore Norge, said the employer association was disappointed that no agreement was reached with SAFE.
Offshore Norge reached a separate agreement with Styrke over the previous weekend. That oil service agreement covers about 7,200 workers at nearly 50 companies and includes salary grid increases of NOK 47,000, or about $5,000, effective from 1 June.
