The five year long harbor conflict in Mosjøen is over, but the Dockworkers do not get their jobs back
From Transportarbeideren:
Just over five years after the harbor workers in Mosjøen were banned from the harbor, the parties agreed on a settlement.
It was already set date in August for a trial after the dock workers in Mosjøen with the Transport Workers' Union and LO in the back sued Mosjøen Industriterminal for what they thought was illegal lockout.
Lost strike contributions
A disagreement on payment for work as far back as in 2014 meant that the 17 harbor workers affiliated with Mosjøen Transportarbeiderforening were deprived of their admission cards on May 8 that year. Since then, the dockers have been banned from the quay, and thus the opportunity to do their job. Until the end of January 2017, the port workers had strike contributions from the Transport Workers' Union because Mosjøen was - together with Tromsø - taken out in sympathystrike with the requirement for a collective agreement against Risavika Terminal outside Stavanger.
For over two years, the dock workers in Mosjøen have been without both pay and strike contributions, and they have instead had to try to obtain other income.
Financial compensation
At the same time, the port workers have looked forward to a lawsuit to clarify that this has been an illegal lockout.
However, Tuesday last week it was ready for a court mediation between the parties to see if there was any possibility of reaching an agreement before a possible trial. It turned out that there was the possibility.
- We have entered into a settlement that both parties agree on. The case is now dead, confirms the first deputy chairman Terje Fenn Samuelsen in the Transport Workers' Union.
However, the settlement does not mean that the port workers in Mosjøen will get their access cards to Mosjøen Havn back and can start to unload and load boats again.
Looking forward
The transport worker has not yet succeeded in getting hold of the head of the harbor workers in Mosjøen, Pål M. Aanes for a comment, but the NTF deputy chairman has understood that the port workers are happy to put the case behind.
- It is important to set a period. Now both parties agree to look ahead, says Terje Fenn Samuelsen.
Original Article:
From NRK Nordland:
Norway's longest work conflict is over: - A relief
The fronts have been steep in what has been Norway's longest working conflict, but now it's all over.
Last year, NRK wrote about the harbor workers in Mosjøen, who have been without income for several years.By Felixstowe Docker here: https://felixstowedocker.blogspot.com/2018/06/refuses-to-give-up-in-norways-longest.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR3qMMFFUNnUeyZPqwgNhqeIHyvXZ4-YCIyYbAUh_fiPOfZWrp3aFi9gezc
From NRK Nordland:
Norway's longest work conflict is over: - A relief
The fronts have been steep in what has been Norway's longest working conflict, but now it's all over.
Last year, NRK wrote about the harbor workers in Mosjøen, who have been without income for several years.By Felixstowe Docker here: https://felixstowedocker.blogspot.com/2018/06/refuses-to-give-up-in-norways-longest.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR3qMMFFUNnUeyZPqwgNhqeIHyvXZ4-YCIyYbAUh_fiPOfZWrp3aFi9gezc
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Felixstowe Dockers
felixstowedocker.blogspot.com
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The conflict is the longest work conflict in Norway since the Second World War and probably also the longest ever.
But now the conflict has resolved, writes Helgelendingen.
- That is right. Now it's back to everyday life. It is a great relief, says Per Ove Hauan, who is a port worker to NRK.no.
He says he is very happy that the conflict is over.
- It has been some tough years. Mosjøen is a small town, where everyone mostly knows everyone. It is very good to be able to put the conflict to death and move on.
Disagreement on pay and exclusion
The port workers have argued that they have been banned from the job of unloading and loading raw materials and metal out of the aluminum plant.
They believe this happened after it became difficult to get the payment thought they were entitled to.
On the other hand, Mosjøen Industrial Terminal, which purchased services from the harbor workers, has constantly disputed that the harbor workers were banned.
NHO, who has responded on behalf of Mosjøen Industrial Terminal, believes that the amount the harbor workers demanded was controversial and that the port workers themselves did not want to work without having this paid.
17 harbor owners
When the conflict started in 2014, there were 17 Dockworkes on the barricades. Since then, several have fallen off.
The conflict in Mosjøen is the longest working conflict in Norway after World War II, and probably also the longest in Norway history, according to the Norwegian Transport Workers' Union.
So now Helgelendingen writes that the conflict has resolved. The Paper refers to a ruling from Alstahaug District Court. There it is stated that the parties came to an agreement during a court mediation meeting on May 14. In this way, legal action was avoided.
"We are not allowed to say anything about what the agreement is about, but we have made a settlement and are happy to put this behind us and look ahead," says Hauan.
NRK has not yet received a comment from NHO or Mosjøen industrial terminal.
Original Article:
https://www.nrk.no/nordland/norges-lengste-arbeidskonflikt-er-over-1.14553680?fbclid=IwAR3ThPsNUSwUwCCdfHCkepH56Cxp8-v1bJpFfBWGS8tln2iK9xCnuFRHE1w
There is a lot more that could have been told about this.
We(the Dockers in Mosjøen) have previously written this about the conflict:
On December 21, 2013, the harbor workers in Mosjøen and Tromsø were taken out in sympathy strike in connection with the boycott at Risavika harbor terminal outside Stavanger.
The port workers actively went in to give ALCOA a dispensation, so that the cornerstone company in the municipality did not suffer any damage. No one wanted to hit them with a sympathy strike.The thanks for this half a year later were the confiscation of the approval (ISPS clearance) to work on the quay and the deletion of the admission cards!
The port workers requested on May 8, 2014, a guarantee of NOK 598,000 for work that had already been carried out. The loading and unloading office did not have the money to pay wages.
Instead of signaling that this would be paid, Mosjøen Industrial Terminal (MIT) closed the harbor workers out of the harbor.
Alcoa helped to delete the Dockers admission cards to the harbor and made theire own workers to do the work of the Dockers. Despite this, Alcoa claims that they "do not have a part in the conflict".
In an information meeting for the employees at Mosjøen Industrial Terminal after the exclusion, they were told that it would go the same way with MIT employees if supporting the Dockers and stopping the work.
The triggering cause of the conflict was thus a provocation withholding wages for work done.
The port workers later got an "offer" that a few could get work at MIT. We were summoned to a job interview for our own job that many have had longer than anyone at MIT. The condition was to switch to another collective agreement.We regarded this as an attempt at unionbusting and of course said no to this (MIT is owned by Grieg Logistics)
This also has another side.
The conflicts in the ports are interconnected.NHO has laid a strategy for getting rid of a whole occupational group. It is NHO who is the ideological driving force and for breaking the dockworkers and their collective agreements. It is NHO that spearheads social dumping and unionbusting.
But why will NHO, shipowners and other players in Norwegian ports get rid of the harbor workers?
ILO Convention 137 was ratified by Norway in 1974.
One result of the ILO convention is that the Dockworkers are almost 100 per cent organized by the union, which makes them strong in the workplace. At the same time, the port workers are employed by a loading and unloading office, which has been agreed upon in the collective agreement between the NHO and the Transport Workers' Union. The unloading and loading offices are so-called non-profit companies.Dockers do not give a profit. The employers like it very badly.
Since 1948, the Dockers have played an important role in the fight for orderly pay and working conditions for seafarers. It is therefore not without reason that shipowners the world over wants to get rid of the Dockworkers. The port workers have been the ones who have been responsible for the physical and actual blockade of ships when it has been necessary to obtain a collective agreement on board a ship. The port workers have been crucial and central to the fight against underpayment, repression and social dumping at sea.
Solidarity has been, and still is, an important part of the job of Dockworkers.
End of quotation.
There is a lot more that could have been told about this.
It is not a secret that Norwegian Dockers are not pleased with the lack of support from the main Confederation of workers (LO) in Norway,witch the Dockers union is a member of.
The trade union movement in Norway does not work for Dockworkers a friend of mine said...
Well,the fact is that the Dockers in Mosjøen have not worked in the harbour for over five years and most of them now have other jobs.
We would like to thank all of you that have supported us all this years.
Felixstowe Docker have helped with great articles.
A specialt thanks to the ones that attended the Mosjøen Rally - October 18th 2014.
Dockers and supporters form all over Europe and Norway came to Mosjøen.We will never forget.
Here are the pictures by Sérgio Sousa:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.1481732425448906&type=3
Let us all continue to work for Docker rights all around the globe,either affiliated with IDC,ITF,ETF,MUA,ILA,ILWU or other main unions.
Personly I will continue to post about Dockers at Dockers Hangarounds:
https://www.facebook.com/Dockersfight/
https://felixstowedocker.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/norway-dockers-dispute.html
https://felixstowedocker.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/norway-dockers-dispute_24.html
https://felixstowedocker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/norway-dockers-dispute.html
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