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14 February, 2011
Senior management of Statoil, responsible for the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with the ICEM and Norwegian trade union affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), met at the ICEM on 16 December 16, 2010, together with Lars Myhre, chair of the ICEM Energy Industries Sector, and ICEM General Secretary, Manfred Warda, to sign the latest version of the GFA.
The Statoil GFA was the first one that ICEM reached with any company in any sector in July 1998, and it is seen as a major benefit to both management and unions around the world. The Statoil delegation was led by Siv Oftedal, newly appointed Vice President of Human Resources, and also included Erling Brevik and Aksel Stenerud.
The text of the agreement remains substantially unchanged, with all agreeing that in its present form, it has served all parties well.
After signing of the renewal, detailed discussions took place that focussed on the company’s investments in Iraq, where it is junior partner with Russian-based Lukoil in the development of the West Querna 2 field. It was agreed that it would be useful to hold a future exchange of information on Iraq early in 2011, with a view to continued contact and the consideration of joint activities.
Another focus was the company’s increased activities in the Caspian Sea. Here it was agreed to consider the introduction of regional social dialog in the Caspian, building on both the work IE has done in Azerbaijan and the ICEM’s Caspian Sea Workers’ Network. Two years ago, ICEM affiliates in the Caspian made a declaration on social rights and last year held a first meeting in which Statoil attended with the Azerbaijan national oil and gas company, SOCAR.
Finally discussions covered offshore safety, particularly in the light of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon disaster last year in the Gulf of Mexico.