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262 Schlumberger employees are ready to strike if next Wednesday’s mediation does not lead to an agreement.
Ekofisk is one of the oil fields that could be affected if Schlumberger employees go on strike next week.
HO / Reuters
Published:,
In May, Schlumberger cut 400 jobs in Norway, while management cut wages by 20 percent.
The company also closed a technology center at Forus in Stavanger after the company announced that it would cut costs by 30 percent as a result of reduced investments from oil companies.
Schlumberger has now terminated the Special Agreement with Union Safe (the Association of Energy Sector Unions). The parties will meet for mediation on Wednesday and one of Schlumberger’s main demands will be to change the way employee salaries are structured, Safe tells E24.
Tens of thousands of crowns lost
– We are quite shocked, says Espen Johannessen, club leader at Safe Schlumberger.
– The departments where the special agreement applies have done well and have earned money at all times. We work max overtime and we’re on the go, and then we come across this later?
The company will change the salaries of its employees from a fixed monthly salary to a combination of a daily offshore bonus and a lower fixed monthly salary, according to the union. The offshore bonus will represent 47 percent of the employee’s wages.
– This means that every day our members cannot or cannot travel abroad, it will result in a loss of up to several thousand crowns in lost income, says Johannessen.
– Annually, this could mean a loss of tens of thousands of crowns for our members. Safe cannot accept it.
Employees have no financial requirements in this year’s negotiations and only want to keep salary and working conditions in the Special Agreement.
– Like the rest of the industry, we want a stable income. We have regular expenses, says Johannessen.
705 can be taken out on strike
Termination of employment for all 705 Safe members within the drilling and well service has been announced. 262 of them work at Schlumberger and have resigned since midnight on December 2, the day of mediation between the parties.
– The other Safe clubs have been left behind. They see the danger in this and that it can be a domino effect, says Johannessen.
He thinks Schlumberger will go for the club first there, where the special deal is a little better than elsewhere. If Schlumberger achieves that, the club leader fears a flood of special deal terminations.
– It doesn’t take long if there are strikes and steep fronts before Safe brings the other clubs into a common front, says Johannessen.
Safe has clubs within the well service at, among others, Oceaneering, Subsea 7 and Vecto Gay.
Drilling companies can also be affected
Schlumberger does not wish to comment on the matter, but it is referring to Norwegian Oil and Gas, which represents the company in the mediation.
– We have recorded that Safe has hired 262 employees. We hope to reach an agreement, says Kolbjørn Andreassen, information manager for Norwegian Oil and Gas.
Norwegian Oil and Gas did not respond to why Schlumberger terminated the special agreement.
In principle, a strike will not affect oil production, but above all drilling and well services. Schlumberger currently has contracts for Gullfaks A and B, Statfjord A and C, Askeladden, Kvitebjørn, Visund, Ringhorne, West Bolstad, West Hercules, Maersk Integrator, Transocean Norway, Valhall and Ekofisk.
The strike may also mean that drilling companies will have to lay off their employees when drilling and well services are no longer available.
Only the special Safe Club contract has been terminated. Industri Energi, Tekna and Schlumberger’s NITO members are not affected.
Read on E24 +
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