MAF info January 2022

AkerBP protection requirements for travel offshore 
AkerBp has informed that they will introduce protection requirements for everyone who travels offshore to their installations and rigs operated by them.

The protection requirement means the following pursuant to the Covid-19 regulation: 
1.    Has been fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. 
2.    Has received the 1st jab of vaccine, lasting from 3 to 15 weeks after vaccination. 
3.    If approved laboratory method has tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, with duration from end of isolation to 12 months after test date

Both MAF and the company must comply with the law regarding this. The same applies to AkerBP, where Industri Energi has been strongly critical of the process they have used, without the involvement of either the local union branch or the safety service.

https://industrienergi.no/nyhet/kritisk-til-aker-bps-prosess-for-a-innfore-krav-om-koronavaksine/

At our monthly meeting the company informs that they will evaluate how this should be handled, and that they will have a further dialogue with us and the safety service.  

We believe that many questions and a lot of law must be clarified before such an initiative may be implemented, and we have, based on the joint Team’s meeting which was held with IndustriEnergi last week, subsequently received some legal advice from the group IndustriEnergi have established   to assess the subject in full.

Nothing in the law is completely black and white and there are many opinions and aspects. However, we see it as our most important task that all members are treated correctly, whether they appear fully vaccinated or whether they can document that they have had corona according to the Covid-19 regulation, or whether they do not want to state their status. 

Particularly the latter is the major challenge, and also the point on which IndustriEnergi is strongly critical to, in relation to §9 of the Working Environment Act.



Merger with Noble Drilling. 
On this subject we have nothing new to report, and refer to previous general news from December 2021.



Nordea Liv Pension
This concerns an older pension agreement from approx. mid-90s, which some MDN employees with foreign residences have savings in. But it turns out that it seems random who has the savings or not.

Some time ago we approached the company requesting an explanation. They have contacted the insurance broker who is presently looking into the matter. We have also been in contact with the same insurance broker and he is now trying to procure the old agreements.

We have previously asked some of our members if they may remember anything, and we have also received a few answers which have been passed on. Some believe that we had an agreement at first with Vesta, and that this agreement was later transferred to Nordea.



MAF Annual General Meeting 2022 
An overwhelming majority of the Board agrees that we postpone the annual meeting, hoping that we may arrange a physical meeting.  

The AGM MUST IN PRINCIPLE be arranged before the end of February, but the National Executive Board of IndustriEnergi may grant permission for the AGM to be further postponed.

We will, in consultation with the MAF Board, assess the situation on an ongoing basis. The existing Board is in office until the Annual General Meeting is arranged.

We are entering a year of negotiations on a full wage settlement, and of course quarantine and compensation will also be a theme at the AGM, resulting in various claims for the settlement. This will include a follow-up on the various cases of quarantine.



Compensation for quarantine in general. 
Of course, many have asked about the cases, and we have just received this update from IndustriEnergi:  

As previously announced, LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik approached NHO to discuss an inquiry with the authorities about public compensation schemes. The inquiry resulted in a meeting where NHO emphasized that their member companies should be able to find solutions and instructed Norwegian Oil and Gas to take an initiative for a meeting with IndustriEnergi to reach an agreement on the further process.

Unfortunately, Norwegian Oil and Gas has changed leader resulting in a tightening of the meeting activity before Christmas. Unfortunately, it has taken a long time to set up a meeting for a follow-up. Now, however, it is agreed to meet in mid-February to discuss our claims.



Compensation for leisure time quarantine which is not imposed by the authorities. 
As previously reported, we have claimed compensation for all leisure time quarantine valid from 24 June 2021. 

We had another meeting with the company again last week where we did not reach an agreement. We are therefore now preparing for a dispute with the company, which in turn will be submitted to IndustriEnergi for further processing.




Compensation for Corona test before departure.
We do not completely agree with IndustriEnergi when they believe that this should only be compensated in pursuant to clause 8 of the Collective Agreement, which states overtime for time spent, however, for a minimum of 4 hours overtime. We set the claim a little higher by requiring it to be regarded as part of the period on board. In any case, IndustriEnergi has submitted a writ of summons with the said claims in accordance with clause 8 of the Collective Agreement and we   await the result of this. IndustriEnergi assumes that if they win through a verdict on this, then they will be able to use it to achieve the same result.




Illness during the quarantine period and the right to leave of absence in accordance with clause 14.1 a, b and c of the Collective Agreement
We have previously submitted all the issues to IndustriEnergi, but they have not taken a position on them. Of course, we do not believe that it may be right that we lose both collective and legal rights to leave of absence by having to be quarantined. But when it is not legally decided what a quarantine day should be defined as, and when there is nothing mentioned about quarantine in the Collective Agreement, then the Company may apparently continue to make its own rules and pretensions on how they will handle this.

Of course, we have tried with local agreements, but the only thing the company has given in to is that you may now report sick during the quarantine period, without the company deducting from your salary, if you due to illness, have not been able to complete necessary quarantine before departure offshore. And you also no longer must make changes to your rotation or owe days to the company. But we must point out that this is only the practice that the company has now chosen, and therefore not something we have an agreement on. And in addition to this, we continue to have challenges with leave of absence in general according to section 14.1 a, b and c of the Collective Agreement when they occur during the quarantine period.



Compensation for requirements for quarantine or isolation on the journey home. 
The company states that this will typically be authority-imposed quarantine (which must otherwise be handled by the local infection control office) and they therefore do not believe that they should compensate, even if the close contact or infection with corona has occurred at their installation. IndustriEnergi does not believe we can claim anything as when it is imposed by the authorities. The company does not want to make a local agreement on compensation for this.

If you have tested positive while traveling to a hotel or reporting point.  

The company points out that the reporting point is the heliport, but exceptions to this may be assessed through dialogue. 

If you travel offshore on overtime, however, MAF will recommend that you make an agreement with your coordinator first.

The company reminds that you must contact both the local infection control office and your own doctor for a medical certificate if you test positive. It is mainly your own doctor you are supposed to use, but in special cases you may seek help from the occupational health service. You may also use the departure medic on duty for advice.



In general, on all quarantine cases, we like to state the following:  
On all of our claims related to quarantine or compensation the company believe that none of this is regulated in our Collective Agreement. This has been the fact all the way and it turns out that the company ONLY pay for what may be re-invoiced to the operators or the Norwegian state. 

MAF can do nothing but dispute this and ask others for help, because MDN will not pay.