Strike threat brings wage increase for Norwegian fish industry workers

The Norwegian food workers’ union NNN reached on agreement on wages with the Norwegian Seafood Association (FHL) on May 19, averting a strike set to begin on May 21.

The deadlock in negotiations, which broke off on April 29, generated enormous anger among workers at 18 fish processing plants (three of them belong to Marine Harvest, four to Leroy Seafood and five to Norway Seafoods), where more than 1,000 workers were prepared to strike. “Mobilisation was going on around the whole country and we were ready to block almost the whole industry, in particular salmon production”, said Hans-Johan Dahl, NNN fish industry secretary.

With the new collective agreement the minimum hourly wage at all factories covered by the CBA (60 percent of the industry) will be increased by NOK 5.85 to NOK 162.85 (approximately EUR 20) per hour. The employers also agreed to register the CBA as national law, which will make the CBA terms and conditions industry-wide legal obligations.