The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Manufacturing Manufacture For Transport Equipment Manufacture Of Other Transport Equipment 30.11 - Building of ships and floating structures
300 - 1,700 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
18 February 2015
Employment effect (start)
9 April 2015
Foreseen end date
Description
Norwegian petroleum services company Aker Solutions will cut about 300 jobs in maintenance, modifications and operations (MMO) in Norway. Additionally 70 employees will be temporarily laid off. Further cut are expected in the shipyard in Egersund.
Downsizing in the MMO business in Norway was announced in February but the general meeting in Bergen where the employees were informed about the job reductions was held at the beginning of April. The exact number of the job cuts is not confirmed, but media reports indicate that about 120 jobs will be lost in Stavanger and 50-100 jobs could be cut in Bergen. The most recent cuts in MMO come in addition to previously reported cuts in the company, which has reduced its staff in Norway by more than 500 employees.
Aker Solutions also announced, in November 2015, the downsizing of its workforce at its shipyard in Egersund. The company plans to cut all positions in Egersund by ending its contracts with about 1,400 workers employed at the site through employment agencies. Permanent employees directly employed by the company will not be affected by the restructuring. The downsizing of the workforce in Egersund is therefore set to be implemented this spring. According to a previous statement from the company, the staff in Egersund will consist of only 660 permanent employees, from around Easter and at least until the end of 2015.
Aker Solutions has downplayed the importance of this staff reduction and claims it is a normal adjustment to the cyclical nature of the market. According to the media sources, the decision to cut the jobs did not come as a surprise to the local union and it was largely expected. It is not the first time that the staff at the shipyard has been reduced: 2,000 workers were employed at the site in early 2010, 400 in the fall the same year, and 2,900 in the spring of 2013.
At least 10,000 jobs have been cut in the Norwegian petroleum sector over the past year. Statistics Norway has estimated that as much as 30.000 jobs directly related to petroleum investment activity may be cut before 2018. Employer organization Norsk Industri expects that about half of the 20,000 temporary agency workers in the petroleum industry will lose their job this year.
Aker Solutions is a global provider of products, systems and services to the oil and gas industry. It has 28,000 employees worldwide, 8,300 of whom work with subsea and field design in Norway.
Sources
18 February 2015: Reuters
21 January 2015: Stavanger Aftenblad
26 February 2015: Stavanger Aftenblad
26 February 2015: Stavanger Aftenblad
Citation
Eurofound (2015), Aker Solutions, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 79228, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/79228.
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