Last week's negotiations between the Norwegian Shipowners' Association and employees in the floating rig sector represented by trade associations Industri Energi and Safe have broken down, writes Norwegian media Sysla.

The decisive factor is the matter of wages.

In the light of the incipient recovery on the rig market, employees are demanding that rig workers get a share of the better times in the form of larger paychecks.

On the employers' side, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association's head of negotiations, Jakob Korsgaard of Maersk Drilling, by no means thinks that there is basis for the associations' demands. The market situation is still too poor, he thinks.

"Despite signs of rising activity, rig and drilling companies are still struggling with poor markets, and there is no basis for a wage settlement anywhere near the demands presented by employees," he says in a statement, according to Sysla.

At the moment, the parties are so far removed from each other on the wage matter that trade association Safe warns of a looming threat of strikes.

"If we think about how big the distance between us is now, there is absolutely high danger of that," says Hilde Marit Rysst, leader of Safe, to Sysla.

English Edit: Jonas Sahl Jørgensen

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