SME leader demands apology from Raymond Johansen after accusations – E24

During the Christmas crown press conference on Thursday last week, Oslo City Councilor Raymond Johansen took a hard line against small businesses.

– Now I’ll be very honest: I think we should be so realistic that there are probably small businesses that do not follow these quarantine rules in detail, they probably do not have the resources to do so, said Johansen.

Since the declaration, the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) interest organization has received a strong response from members.

– They are shocked. And it’s not just the members in Oslo and Akershus, there are members in other parts of the country who notice this, says CEO Olaf Thommessen on SMB to E24.

– Now we demand that Raymond Johansen present an explanation or an apology, he says.

– Extremely reckless

Thommessen believes, first and foremost, that the city council leader must be too good for the accusations he made last week.

– He’s extremely reckless. Small businesses bear the greatest burden in this crisis and should in no way be stigmatized in this way, says Thommessen.

He believes that Johansen’s accusations do not stand up.

– We have no reason to believe that small businesses don’t take infection control standards seriously. Hvermannsen, in which this industry is made up, does the best he can and takes a lot of this volunteer work, says Thommessen.

Junk companies are the problem

City Councilor Raymond Johansen has been presented with Thommessen’s criticism, and he responds as follows in an email to E24:

– Olaf Thommesen must listen to what I say: most small businesses in Norway are serious players and follow the regulations on infections. But we have a problem with fewer junk companies circumventing the law, using undeclared work, and exploiting foreign labor. Not least in the construction industry in Oslo, says Johansen.

We know very well that there are many who have not followed the infection control rules in unorganized work life. We know, among other things, that the workforce has come from abroad by plane and has gone directly to the country and to work. It amazes me that Thommesen doesn’t care to help solve this problem, but rather builds a line of conflict that doesn’t exist, he says.

Johansen notes that the import infection has contributed to Norway and Oslo getting their second wave of infection.

– And we know that many of those who come to Norway to work come from countries with high rates of infection. Now we have managed to reduce the infection a bit. But if it’s not squeezed at the border, it can help the infection spike again, he says.

– Many of the employers are good at making sure their employees comply with quarantine, as they should. But I don’t think we can leave this to individuals. We should have a common system of mandatory testing upon arrival of the red countries, says Johansen.