The debate post expresses the writer’s opinions.
Heine Aardalen recently described in Nettavisen his side of the case now that the Labor Party is uncompromising that they want to close down businesses where 6,500 employees make a living. Could it be more arrogant than the answer from Alexander Hopland-Wøien when he says: “They do not lose their jobs, they just have to apply for a new one”?
Hopland-Wøien probably believes that all companies in the construction industry on 1 July will run a session with the chair game, and the company that at this time has hired one of our permanent employees will immediately offer him or her a permanent job, completely independent of the hiring company’s needs.
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What does he think it comes from that you can have vacancies here and there in Norway – at the same time as you have unemployment both around the country and abroad?
What arrogant trade union movement can express itself like this, and why do we face such unscrupulous attitudes from the unions?
It may be a trifle for Hopland-Wøien if you are fired from your job, but many of the employees in the staffing agency have modest Norwegian skills – and may not be so good-looking when it comes to interviews or applications.
He shows here a surprisingly low insight into other people’s lives, if one is to believe him when he gives the impression of being concerned about the interests of those who work in staffing agencies.
And then there is Hadia Tajik, the Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion.
For us who work in well-run companies, it is obvious that a healthy culture and good attitudes must be consistent in all stages from top to bottom in the hierarchy.
By having an inclusion minister who does not seem to include the business community in such decisions, we can assume that the goal after eight years of political desert wandering is to show the opposition who decides, with our employees as cannon foddere.
There are three parties affected by this decision, but only one is listened to: namely trade unions.
Hadia Tajik: – This is the problem in the staffing industry
The minister is almost reduced to a microphone stand for the trade union movement, without stopping a bit and philosophizing about what it is that makes them so eager to get craftsmen in staffing agencies over to NAV or safely home to the sofa corners around Europe.
Hopland-Wøien refers to a survey which shows that 80 percent of his members will work in an “ordinary” company rather than in a staffing agency. Personally, I think it is more remarkable that he has not received 100 percent support for such a question when you consider the ridiculously skewed selection.
His association works actively to ensure that the employees in the staffing companies lose their jobs, so you should be above average happy with association meetings and membership fees if you are to sign up with Hopland-Wøien without being negative about the staffing industry at the same time.
If he was interested in coming up with something meaningful about this issue, he should then ask those who do not have a job. In any case, these are the interests we at Vicario are most concerned with.
I would like to hear Hopland-Wøien mention an industry that does not have a certain element of part-time employees. Even Rødt’s accountant is employed in a 50 per cent position. Maybe they simply do not have the finances to pay for 100 percent when you only have work for half a man-year?
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And what does Hopland-Wøien really think about staffing agencies? Are we not an ordinary company, just a toy company in his eyes? Is it human trafficking we do for our 180 permanent employees?
Our company was at least a solid social resource when last year we employed over 100 candidates who came directly from unemployment or undeclared work. Ordinary or extraordinary, we at least got people into work, while Hopland-Wøien asks the unemployed to just find a new job.
He is welcome to ask for anything he wants, but there is no indication that he will lift a finger to make this materialize in practice.
One of the main reasons why there is such good use for the staffing industry is that construction activity is high and the market is generally short of craftsmen. Our job is to find the right man for the right place. And not least to make it attractive for foreigners to come to Norway to build the country here, great people who are happy to stand on and at the same time really need a good and permanent job.
Craft companies and contractors come to us as they are unable to find these candidates themselves, and in many ways we form a personnel department for the craft companies.
We suspect that the background for Fellesforbundet’s desire to ban hiring is the difficulties in recruiting contingent payers from the staffing agencies. There is a constant whining about a low degree of organization, as if it were a societal problem that people simply do not see themselves benefiting from being unionized.
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They choose not to, and it is probably fairly obvious to most that the low degree of organization is due to the fact that the unions do not look after the interests of those who work in the staffing industry.
In conclusion, I appreciate that the case is presented so simply that 6,500 employees do not lose their jobs, but only have to apply for a new one. It could have been comical, but there is a noticeable lack of laughter from those who actually know where the shoe hits.
It clearly has nothing to say for worthless family fathers that they lose their jobs and may not get a new job in the local area, it is just to apply in another city. It also has nothing to say for those who love the workplace. Nothing to say for those who came from the construction industry, but chose staffing as it suited them best. Nothing to say for those who need assistance in the job process or help to obtain housing.
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In Hopland-Wøien’s reality, all of these can pick and choose from buckets of good job offers that offer the staffing industry’s good conditions.
Thanks to Hadia Tajik, the Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion who works energetically to prevent diversity in working life and only listens to her friends and campaign sponsors.
Finally, it will be ordinary people’s turn to get fired.
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