2025-10-26 19:03
publication
2025-10-26 19:03
On Sunday, Energy Minister Terje Aasland announced actions regarding Equinor's violation of workers' rights, including that of Poles. According to Sunday's reports from the “VG” daily, people working on the projects of the Norwegian fuel tycoon may have been employed illegally.
After the publication of “VG”, Minister Terje Aasland announced that he would ask the Minister of Labor for more effective supervision over intermediaries whose services Equinor used.
Aasland assessed that the cases described by the “VG” daily were serious and unacceptable in Norwegian professional life. He emphasized that although Equinor, the largest Norwegian fuel company, did not employ these people directly, it was responsible for what happened at its facilities.
“Employees' rights must not be violated. We cannot have such problems in the Norwegian system,” said the minister responsible for the energy industry in an interview with the daily.
At the same time he admitted that the cases described should not be disclosed by journalists, but by appropriate inspections. He announced that he would ask the minister supervising Arbeidstilsynet (the equivalent of the National Labor Inspectorate in Poland) to more effectively pursue unfair intermediaries. He also did not rule out tougher penalties for agencies violating workers' rights.
Equinor will monitor working conditions more closely
Aasland also reportedly talked to Equinor CEO Anders Opedal. He assured that his company would more closely monitor transparent and legal working conditions.
According to Sunday's reports from “VG”, people working on the fuel tycoon's projects may have been employed illegally. Suppliers of Equinor, the largest Norwegian company in the energy sector, were to benefit from the work of third-country nationals, mainly from Eastern Europe. The project they came across was a gas liquefaction station on Melkoeya Island above the Arctic Circle, worth at least 45 billion crowns (about PLN 16.5 billion).
Recruited through intermediaries workers were to be hired on short-term, five-week contracts. Thereafter, these contracts were regularly renewed. According to Norwegian regulations, employees employed by agencies should have permanent employment contracts and the right to remuneration also during periods when they are not assigned orders.
Meanwhile, Norwegian journalists confirmed that some employees did not receive remuneration during breaks between assignments. The agencies that “VG” asked for explanations tried to justify the lack of remuneration for the so-called average settlement, according to which an employee with a contract for 50 percent full-time employee receives remuneration corresponding to this amount on an annual basis. However, lawyers quoted by the daily assessed that the practice used by intermediaries violates the regulations.
Some of the contracts obtained by “VG” ranged from 20 to 50 percent. full-time employment, even though those employed at Melkoeya were supposed to work more hours. According to these reports, employees from Poland did not receive remuneration after the end of the assignment, which lasted from February 2024 to June 2025, although the contract with the intermediary was not formally terminated.
The agencies described in the Norwegian daily's article were to employ a total of over 2,500 employees in 2024, generating a turnover of approximately 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner (approximately PLN 550 million).
Equinor spokeswoman Ellen Maria Skjelsbaek said that the intermediaries mentioned by “VG” did not have direct contracts with Equinor. It assured that all its suppliers are obliged to comply with Norwegian regulations, and the matter will be investigated.
From Oslo Mieszko Czarnecki (PAP)
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