ITF condemns planned Statoil lockout, urges negotiations

News Release International Transport Federation (ITF) July 13, 2012

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The ITF (International
Transport Workers’ Federation) today strongly advised Norwegian oil producer
Statoil to step back from a planned lockout of its workforce
tomorrow.
 
The Norwegian oil and gas
joint Statoil ASA (STO, STL.OS) and other companies represented by Norway’s Oil
Industry Association have threatened to lock out workers and shut down
production on the Norwegian continental shelf from midnight tonight, in response
to industrial action. Oil companies and threetrade unions representing offshore
workers have been negotiating over wages,but have failed to reach agreement on
workers’ demands for better pension terms. A lockout would put a halt to all oil
and natural gas production in Norway, Western Europe’s largest oil exporter and
the world’s second-largest exporter of gas.
 
The Norwegian government,
which can impose compulsory arbitration, had asked oil companies and the three
unions representing offshore workers — Industri Energi, SAFE and Lederne — to
continue talks, but negotiations broke down early on Sunday. 
 
Stephen Cotton, maritime
coordinator of the ITF, whose 690 member unions include Norway’s Industri Energi
union, said: “This lockout risks creating a significant rise in costs of this
conflict and even further escalation.  We urge all sides in
this dispute to return to the negotiating table, and further recommend the
Norwegian Government join us in condemning this planned lockout.”
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