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Bosnian construction workers get Statnett contracts

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Bosnian construction workers get Statnett contracts and financial rebate

Statnett have created a solution for the 22 Bosnian workers who’ve worked under double contracts in Norway.

 

Statnett revealed last week that employees at Valard Construction AS have worked under conditions, that El and the IT Association, believed were what they described as ‘slave contracts’.

It became known that the Bosnians working on a power line in Rogaland and West Agder, had been required by their employment contracts to send half their salary to a bank account in Bosnia, and undertake to stay in Norway for an indefinite period.

Statnett has now announced that Valard has undertaken to reimburse the workers all wages they’ve paid to their Bosnian employer, UMEL, and been promised further long-term employment contracts with Valard Construction.

They will receive legal aid to dissolve the contract with UMEL, and Valard will also terminate its contract with the company.

Necessary result

‘We are very pleased that this case has had a good solution. Valard Construction takes its responsibility seriously,and has ensured that the unfair contracts are terminated, payments are fully recovered by the employees, and that the Bosnian employees are promised long term contracts with Valard Construction.

This was a necessary and good result,’ said Executive Vice President, Elisabeth Vike Vardheim, of Statnett.

Valard Construction AS is a Canadian contracting company that has a contract with Statnett. The EL and IT Union are very pleased on behalf of the Bosnians.

‘This is a fair solution. We are very pleased that the workers will get what they’ve claimed, and praise Statnett for reacting and reaching a resolution when the slave-like contracts were revealed,’ said Jan Olav Andersen, chairman of the EL and IT Federation.

Follow closely

However, Statnett will not completely let go of the Canadian company.

‘We will follow Valard carefully in the future, not least to prove that the unity that has been agreed today is being implemented.

We are very pleased that by doing this, we’ve been given affirmation that such contracts won’t occur, and especially, that this has been achieved without the harmful effects for the workers’, emphasised Vardheim.

 

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today