General info October 2021

Integrator without contract - Status of the terminations 
As previously informed, the discussions were held on 22 September. The protocol may be found here:  https://www.mafsiden.no/protokoller/dagsaktuelle-protokoller

The Resource Pool has been deliberately reduced to a minimum to increase the possibilities for re-employment if someone should have reserved themselves against the transfer to REPSOL. An opportunity that has now expired, and which probably would not have been useful for re-employment anyway, due to the new situation where Integrator is terminating the contract.
The reduced Resource-pool has also been the reason why we have accepted the use of increased number of hired personnel than usual.

At the discussions, we managed to increase the Resource Pool up to about 53 employees. This number, combined with the fact that at that point in time there were several vacancies in different categories on the rigs. These facts in turn resulted in the following number of redundancies:  

There were 34 redundancies, plus 9 who had their employment contract terminated before they had started working. 

Out of this these numbers 22 were members of Industri Energi. This is a relatively low ratio of members compared to normal standard, but it is probably caused by the fact that many have only been employed for a very short time. The company states that the number of supernumerary international employees are transferred to their parent company.

WEA 15.1 meetings have been held and those affected have received their notice. 


Hiring of Floorhands
Floorhands are still being hired. But this is a transition period until the Integrator is downsized and the Resource Pool thereby is filled in as agreed.  


Temporary Aker BP Electrician at Maersk Reacher 
The company has borrowed an Electrician from Aker BP who will assist for 300 hours to cope with outstanding maintenance on Aker-Bp and SLB equipment on board Reacher. For this reason, we have received a lot of inquiries from members who are wondering why this is happening right now, where redundancies are taking place. The company has pointed out that the Electrician will not work on Reacher's equipment, but only on Aker Bp and SLB equipment. MAF will of course follow up on the situatuion, but we will also point out that no Electricians or ETs have been fired in this round of downsizing.


Meeting activities: 
We are planning a meeting for the MAF Board on 17-18 November. Unfortunately, we have found it necessary to postpone the conference for shop stewards which is usually taken place in October/Nov until the spring. The postponement is due to redundancies and upcoming transfers. We hope that the shop stewards who are transferred will stand up anew for their new teams, and preferably soon enough being able to attend our Annual General Meeting, which we plan to arrange in Copenhagen on 28-29 January 2022. The MAF Board will meet a day ahead. 


Personal password:
Again, we have received inquiries that some are being asked to lend out their personal password, both to service personnel and employees who come offshore to replace or to assist. The company fully agrees with us that the passwords are personal and should not be submitted to others.  


Pension Insurance Scheme for Seamen (PTS) – Post payment
As described in the last MAF info, after many discussions and negotiations, we have finally reached an agreement on a scheme for post-payment of PTS. We are working on drafting a protocol on the agreement. The company will shortly issue a letter to personnel concerned. 


Compensation for leisure time quarantine which is not imposed by the authorities   
MAF has submitted a claim for compensation for all leisure time quarantine for offshore personnel valid from 24 June 2021. We believe that this quarantine must be compensated according to the Collective Agreement’s rate for lost leisure time for hours when no work is carried out.   


Quarantine compensation 
We may probably not write a general newsletter without mentioning the quarantine cases. But, unfortunately, we have not any more news since Industri Energi on 27 August arranged an information meeting at TEAMS, where the biggest news was that the case is now split into two separate cases – respectively government and company imposed quarantine. More from this meeting may be found here.
https://www.mafsiden.no/home/quarantine-information-from-maf-


Transfer of undertaking to REPSOL
From the start of this process, we have been in ongoing dialogue with our lawyer at Industri Energi to ensure that everything has been correctly handled pursuant to the Working Environment Act's regulations on transfer of undertaking. It should be mentioned, however, that we have not been fully comfortable with the process as we have not been informed of all details about salary, working conditions and pension etc.  

Another problem is related to the Contractual Early Retirement Pension Scheme -AFP. You must have been employed by the company for 7 years to be entitled to the scheme of AFP. Further, the age limit for employment with REPSOL is 65 years, which means that if you are 58 years or older by the time of transfer to REPSOL, then you will not reach the right to receive the benefit of AFP.   

However, it is important to point out that we do not earn the right to AFP as offshore employees in MDN, but it will of course be a big benefit for those who may achieve it. You may read more about AFP here: https://www.nav.no/no/person/pensjon/avtalefestet-pensjon-afp/avtalefestet-pensjon-afp-i-privat-sektor-fra-2011

Furthermore, it appears that those who live abroad may receive less pension savings, compared to the agreement they have with MDN (which is in accordance with the Collective Agreement's appendix 4 on pensions for foreign employees.

We have also repeatedly asked REPSOL why they will not pay travel expenses for those traveling from abroad. The answer has simply been that they do not pay for it. MAF has no right to negotiate with REPSOL. So, we have unfortunately not had the opportunity to do anything other than note the answer, and thus leave it up to the new Board to promote the claim to have travel expenses covered - from abroad also.   

As previously mentioned, we believe that it is a violation of the Working Environment Act that all personnel who are now being transferred have lost the right to reserve themselves against the transfer until receiving an answer to all the requested information.

We have therefore submitted the following to the company:  
MAF believes that the obligation of information pursuant to WEA Chapter 16 has not been fulfilled regarding the process of transfer of undertaking of Maersk Inspirer from MDN to Repsol.   

Special emphasis is put on §16-3 Right of Reservation etc. pt. 2. An employee who opposes the transfer of the employment relationship to a new employer must notify the previous employer in writing of this within the time limit set. The time limit may not be shorter than 14 days after information pursuant to § 16-6 has been provided."   

§16-6 States that the previous and new employer as early as possible shall inform the employees affected of the transfer, cf. §16-1. Special information shall be provided on matters mentioned in §16-5, second paragraph, letters a to f. We may not see that the conditions in §16-5, second paragraph, letters b to f, are met. This is justified by the fact that the final date for the transfer has not been set. The legal, economic and social implications of the transfer for the employees have not been clarified. The employees are not fully informed about what changes in the Collective Bargaining Agreements will constitute for the individual.

We claim that the deadline for the right of reservation and / or the right to choose cannot be set until at least 14 days after the information that the previous and new employer is required to provide to the employees has in fact been communicated in full, cf. §16-3 second paragraph.   

Should you be in doubt about the right of reservation and the right to choose, and what the difference is, you can read more about it here:  

https://www.lo.no/hva-vi-mener/lo-advokatene/nyheter-fra-lo-advokatene/valgrett_should_i_stay_or_should_i_go/?fbclid=IwAR1s6jfGMC4x255zPbxpfhQQTTqMBr4c_W0UT_uatNUAD9eUxUey5P98uA8

We hope that everyone will support the new Board so that we may have an IE local branch with the right to negotiate in REPSOL. And we also hope that everyone, after all, will have a good job at Inspirer with the new owners.