– Today’s news is heavy to carry for everyone who has been in an unpredictable and demanding situation for a long time, says Virke manager Ivar Horneland Kristensen.
On Monday night, the government announced further tightening of the corona measures, including a full stop to drinking and severe restrictions on events.
Kristensen emphasizes that the redundancy notices increase every hour, and he asks the government to hurry up and put in place a wage support scheme.
– Wage support must take into account that there are companies that can not have employees at work. Alternatively, we must look at the redundancy rules, so that the costs are not borne by the companies alone. There is great uncertainty in the industries that make a living from gathering people, so it is urgent to put in place all the financial instruments, he says.
– Very demanding
– The situation is very demanding for the country’s companies and employees, says NHO chief Ole Erik Almlid, who says he understands that stricter measures must be implemented.
– The latest austerity measures will at the same time make it even more difficult to operate as normal and will affect companies in many industries across the country. We will also see more absences due to infection and quarantine. Several companies are already on their knees, and they need compensatory measures to get through the crisis, he says.
He points to a wage support scheme that ensures competence and prevents redundancies in the short term.
– The national compensation schemes from previous closures must be put back in place quickly, says Almlid, who also believes that companies with a turnover failure must be given the opportunity to defer payment of taxes and fees.
Thinks the government is too slow
The most important thing now in the future is that the government gets full speed on the vaccination with the third dose, and that all cloths are added, points out the Conservative Party’s health policy spokesperson, Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen.
– It makes a strong impression when the government and the health authorities emphasize that we are a very serious situation. Now we all have to line up, even if it will be tough weeks for many. We hope that the government has now taken good action to reduce the spread of infection, so that we can get control of the pandemic, she says.
She asks the government to put in place the necessary arrangements well before Christmas.
FRP’s health policy spokesperson, Bård Hoksrud, believes that the government spends too much time helping companies and employees in need.
– The government should have put in place compensation schemes that could help the many who are now hard hit by the many intervention measures. Once again, we experience that the government is dragging its feet when they are to return with the compensation measures later, says Hoksrud.
The government has called for a press conference on financial measures related to the corona situation on Tuesday morning.
(©NTB)
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