Støre makes profit of 300 per cent on dubious project

Jonas Gahr Støre,The Labour's Leader Jonas Gahr Støre.Photo: arbeiderpartiet.no

Støre sells shares in controversial construction project for NOK 4.5 million

Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre has sold his shares in a construction project that revealed working conditions without collective agreements and “casual worker contracts”.

 

– I decided to sell our three percent shares in light of what emerged about conditions on the construction sites. I found it right to ask the remaining owners if they wanted to buy our shares because it is proportions that it is difficult to sell in the usual manner, says Støre to Dagbladet.

According to the newspaper, the Labour leader invested NOK 1.5 million in the two housing projects he is currently selling out of. This leaves him with a profit of 300 per cent, after accepting an offer of NOK 4.5 million from the other owners of the construction projects.

Criticism Left, Right & Centre

According to Større profits could have been even higher if he had waited to sell out until the 188 apartments are completed. The case has however becoma a headache for the Labour leader, who has received criticism from the Trade Unions, the Centre Party, Red and the Conservatives beacause of his ownership.

Both in the speech to Labours National Assembly and in the 1st of May speech shortly thereafter, the fight against social dumping was a keynote, and Støre specifically pointed to construction as a problematic industry.

Several of the workers in the construction project Grenselunden, where Støres’ company Fernstø had a 3.26 percent stake, has just the sort of employment agreements that the Labour leader has referred to as “zero-hour contracts” or “casual worker contracts”, according to Dagbladet,.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today