FRØYA (E24): There is great unrest among employees at Salmar’s plant in Frøya, after almost all of them received layoff notices on Monday. – We don’t know if we have a job to return to on 1 January.
Right now
– Now we fight for those who are here. They are my friends. My colleagues.
That’s what chief conservation officer Stian Pachov says at Salmar’s processing plant Innovamar on Frøya. He meets E24 together with union representative Ralitsa Malakova in the Norwegian Trade and Entertainment Workers’ Union (NNN).
Pachov points to several people working diligently to fillet the salmon, from a meeting room with large windows with a view down to everyone who works in various parts of the processing chain. He tells E24 who they are, what their names are, where they come from.
– He there in black earmuffs who is pointing at me now, that is the friend of my son’s ex-boyfriend, says Pachov.
– Already?, Malakova answers questioningly.
– Yes, it ended at the weekend. I got a call on Father’s Day with the message that this didn’t work, says Pachov, before adding that he is going to be scolded by his offspring for sharing this with the press.
But it was much tougher news for Pachov and the employees at Salmar on Monday.
– Great unrest
At 3 pm a general meeting was called, where the employees could ask questions regarding the layoff notice that was sent out to approximately all the employees, 750 people, at the plant on Frøya.
The background is the announced ground rent tax on aquaculture. The government’s proposal stipulates that the tax should be calculated on the basis of a standard price, which is determined according to current stock exchange prices for salmon.
However, it is not the same as what the salmon farmers actually get for selling their salmon. Exchange prices fluctuate a lot, and the farming companies sell large parts of the fish on fixed contracts. This particularly applies to the further processing sector, which employs the largest number of people in the salmon sector – as here on Frøya.
– There is great unrest. We don’t know if we have a job to return to on 1 January, says Malakova. She is a trained piano teacher, and moved to Norway from Bulgaria in 2013.
Both she and her husband work at Salmar. And their two children go to school on the island.
There are more people in the same boat as Malakova and the man. Chief Safety Officer Pachov wants the myth that only seasonal workers work at the plant on Frøya to die. He says that there are 36 nationalities represented among the employees and that the vast majority are permanent residents of Frøya.
– I feel sadness. There is a sullen feeling among people. And I fear for the future of many people here, and for the community on Frøya, says Pachov.
Uncertain about the future
November is not an unusual time for the employees at Salmar to receive layoff notices. There is usually less production in the first quarter of the year, before it picks up in the spring.
But this time it’s different, the shop stewards say.
– Production is usually lower due to the size of the fish. People are used to that. But this is something new, because of the basic rent tax, says Malakova.
– When we received a layoff notice before, we knew that better times were coming in just a few months. Now we know nothing, says Pachov.
– Does anyone now think that the salmon companies are pushing the employees ahead of them in order to gain political ground in this case?
– They don’t. We are the ones who come forward and say that it is our workplaces that are at stake. The uncertainty is so great that we cannot draw up contracts, says Pachov.
He and Malakova feel that the layoff notices are real, and not a political move.
– We cannot continue to produce and hope that we will sell afterwards, says Malakova.
On Thursday next week, they, and around 200 employees at Frøya, will go to demonstrate in front of the Storting.
– I have a driver’s license for a bus, so if we get hold of one, I’ll drive down, says Pachov.
– We went in a torchlight procession in October. We try in every way to show that it is ordinary people who are affected, not just the owners, says Malakova.
Pollestad: – Not the time to be too sure
Fiscal policy spokesperson Geir Pollestad in the Center Party emphasizes that he takes the layoff notices from the salmon companies seriously, even though layoff notices are normal at this time of year.
– We have said that this tax will be introduced, but that when it comes to facilities, we are open to listening to suggestions. That is why the proposal is being consulted on, says Pollestad.
He hopes to get a quick clarification so that the industry gets more predictability.
– A new tax regime will always create uncertainty. We are in dialogue with the industry so we can secure the long-term contracts, which they now believe they have a reduced opportunity to enter into.
Pollestad believes it is too early to say anything about what price the ground rent tax should be calculated from.
– The basic interest tax is solved in different ways in different industries. Some have actual selling prices, others standard prices. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, and it is not certain that the solution the government has chosen is the optimal one, he says.
– Now we want input. This is not the time to be absolutely sure of anything other than that the tax will be introduced.
