Working life, Strike | Preparing for general strike – four local shops may be affected

(Nettavisen): Monday sits in negotiations with at the Ombudsman. If they do not agree by midnight, there will be a strike from 30 April.

The parties do not speak to the media during the mediation.

Handel og Kontor has announced that they will initially take out 4,256 members in shops and offices across the country.

The strike will affect employees in 224 stores, including from Byggmakker, Coop Extra, Coop Obs, H&M, Kiwi, Meny, Spar and the duty-free stores at Bergen, Gardermoen, Trondheim and Torp Airport.

In addition, 21 bookshops will be taken out, as well as office staff from over 30 companies, including Ark, Coop, Elkjøp and Tess.

No companies in the first strike are in Sarpsborg. If the parties do not reach an agreement, however, four local companies will be affected by the conflict when the strike is stepped up on Saturday.

Here is a full overview of all the stores that are affected:

On Saturday, the strike can be stepped up, so that more than 7,000 members in total will be taken out:

Will be strongly affected

67 of Coop’s stores will be affected as early as Tuesday if there is a strike.

– Coop has a high proportion of union members and could be significantly affected by a strike. We have received the resignations and are now assessing the consequences for the stores in the event of a strike, says communications director Harald Kristiansen at Coop Norge to Nettavisen.

Kristiansen does not answer questions about how many stores will be closed if there is a strike, but says that Coop is well prepared to handle the situation.

– We respect the rules of working life and hope the parties reach an agreement. This is a situation we have been in before, and which we are well prepared to handle. Beyond that, we have no further comments during the mediation itself.

Affects the duty free shops

Frifagbevegelse writes that 278 employees in the duty-free shop Travel Retail Norge near Gardermoen are ready to go on strike.

An employee tells the newspaper that the number is so high that it will not be prudent to keep the duty-free shops open.

At the airports in Bergen and Trondheim, the same number is a total of 373 members.

Travel Retail Norway, on the other hand, claims that the stores will not be closed.

– We have no plans to close. We hope the mediation goes well, but even in the event of a strike, we will do everything we can to keep the shops open, said deputy managing director Haakon Dagestad on Wednesday.