Replacement workers must receive at least the same wages and working conditions as employees.
Unions and Federation won in the Labour Court regarding equal treatment of employment agencies.
The unanimous decision in the Labour Court (Arbeidsretten) states that “under statute 8A, Sections 6 and 7 of the Industrial Convention is to be understood such that anybody employed by staffing agencies that are bound by the Manufacturing Agreement should have at least the same pay and working conditions as the employees of the hiring company”.
– I am very happy, and also very relieved that it now will still be possible to conduct union work within staffing agencies, union secretary of Fellesforbundet, Knut Øygard, comments.
No opening for any exception
The Labour Court accorded that the Trade Union were right in their view to the settlement in the 2012 tariff agreement -regarding rules on equal treatment, and that the objections raised by NHO and the Federation of Norwegian Industries were invalid .
The Federation of Norwegian Industries disagreed on whether staffing agencies were bound by the Industrial Agreement for the new tariff period valid from April 2016 concerning wages and working conditions in said agencies or whether staffing firms could adhere to their own collective agreement, as it was stipulated in a special regulation inside the Working Environment Act of last year.
The regulation was submitted in connection with the introduction of the of employment agency directive from the EU. That the two sides interpreted the regulations so differently led to the dispute to be brought before the Labour Court.
– Important clarification
The Labour Court believes that there is no doubt that the parties in the primary settlement of 2012 agreed that there is a Workers Act – which is designed so that it should apply at any time.
“It is in the written documents submitted to the Labour Court on the negotiation and mediation process no a trace of something other than a fixation of neither the wage rate nor pay and working conditions,” according to the ruling.
– Now the parties have been presented with an important clarification, and we now know how the agreement is to be understood, according to Director of Tariff and Member services in NHO, Nina Melsom.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
