An additional 1,487 members of two major trade union organizations have been called off the job at hotels, restaurants and company canteens around the country. That means the strike that began in Oslo and Bergen on April 19 has now spread nationwide with no settlement in sight.
More than 4,000 hotel and restaurant employees will be on strike this weekend from Tromsø in the north to Trondheim, Sandefjord and Lillestrøm in the south. They’re represented by the two major trade union organizations Fellesforbundet and now also Parat. “We want a solution for this,” claimed Fellesforbundet’s leader and so-called strike general Christian Justnes, “but then the employers have to be willing to make some moves.”
A total of 132 various hotels and restaurants are affected by the strike that’s not not so much a battle over pay raises but rather over how sick pay is administered. The hotels and restaurants, like most other businesses in Norway, are obliged to cover sick pay for the first 16 days of an employee’s illness. After that, the state welfare agency NAV takes over, but it’s often not able to do so immediately, allegedly because of all the documentation required.
That means workers on sick leave can be forced to wait weeks for their wages, so their unions want employers to keep paying them until NAV can take over and reimburse them. That can be difficult for small businesses, and the national organization representing employers (NHO Reiseliv) balked. The employers think the responsibility for long-term workers’ compensation lies with NAV.
The strike has mostly affected large hotels from chains including Radisson, Strawberry and Scandic, along with various restaurants and most recently employee canteens at large industrial companies. The expansion of the strike will also spread it to other cities including Kongsberg, Stord and Haugesund.
Talks with the state mediator broke off late last week and no new meetings were planned. A new conflict broke out earlier this week after Parat charged managers at the Grand Hotel in Oslo with “systematic and cynical strike-breaking.” They claim the Grand Hotel, known for hosting Nobel Peace Prize winners and international celebrities, has hired in new employees to take over strikers’ work during the busy month of May with lots of confirmations, weddings and public holidays.
The Grand Hotel, part of the Scandic hotel chain, denied the extra workers are meant to replace striking workers. “Scandic in general and the Grand Hotel specifically respect the rules that apply during strikes,” claimed Elin Ekrol, Scandic Hotels’ personnel director.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
