NSB warns about delays and cancellations

Cleaning trolley NSB MaintenanceCleaning trolley. Photo: Pixabay.com

NSB warns about delays and cancellations during a strike on Tuesday

Members of the Norwegian Railways Association require a guarantee of retaining the job when the Government is to privatize traffic on several train lines. Tuesday the NSB employees go on political strike.

 

NSB announces that cancelations and delays are expected during the political strike, which last from 10 am to 1 pm.

Around 500 cleaners and maintenance workers are at risk of losing their jobs when rail traffic on Sørlandsbanen, Jærbanen and Arendalsbanen will be open for tenders, and these are the ones who halt their work on Tuesday.

Most of the train employees affected by the tenders will be allowed to keep their jobs as part of so-called business transfers. But cleaners and maintenance workers are not certain of this, according to the Norwegian Railway Directorate. Thus, it is open for a new player to choose a different and less expensive solution for cleaning and maintenance.

Runs away from their promises

Both the Socialist Party (SV)  and the Labour Party (Ap) have expressed sympathy with the strikers.

– The Government promised that the railroad reform would not affect wages and working conditions. Now they run away from their promises. The strike is another warning that Norway needs a different labour policy for the many ordinary working people. We have to give the workforce its safety back, writes Labour’s Deputy Leader Hadia Tajik in an email to NTB.

Warns

This weekend, Socialist Party leader Audun Lysbakken compared the situation in the Norwegian rail traffic with the air ambulance crisis in the north.

– The air ambulance crisis is an example of how bad it can turn out when a tender is issued without taking care of the employees. I hope that the majority of the Parliament will put its foot down on this and will ensure that these tenders are at least made in a proper way when the Government has forced them through, says Lysbakken.

– The only ones that gain from cleaners and workmen losing their jobs are the companies that win the tenders, say the SV leader.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today