Saipem respond to reports of overtime work compensation and social dumping.

Italian oilfield services provider Saipem has responded to last week’s reports of a compensation agreement being reached with workers over the violation of working hours regulations, as well as accusations of social dumping.

Last week it was found that two ROV pilots from Saipem Ltd onboard the semi-submersible rig Scarabeo 8, had worked an uninterrupted 12 hours per day for two months.

In negotiations overseen by the Norwegian union, Industri Energy, an agreement of NOK 483,465 ($56,710) for each worker was reached. A spokesperson for Saipem said today: “The payment was not a matter of compensation, but of a regularisation of payments between the parties”.

The issue was addressed and concluded without any intervention from the Judicial Authority. The spokesperson emphasised that meetings were held “With the utmost collaboration of all the parties involved and in the full interest of the two workers”.

“The two ROV pilots were paid on the basis of the hours carried out and in line also with the provisions of the Norwegian legislation”, the spokesperson said.

Industri Energi OSA inspector, Wayne Pena, said this incident shows “How important the trade unions are”.

This case is not the only controversy that Saipem has been involved with. In 2017, Saipem Ltd closed down its Norwegian branch and dismissed all of its offshore employees.

The Industri Energy union claimed that the company continued its operations on the Norwegian shelf, but with only seconded British workers from Saipem LTD and seconded Swiss workers from GPS - which is their staffing company in Switzerland.

An audit at Saipem Ltd’s head office in London found significant deviations from the frameworks and activity regulations. As well as deviations from the oil service agreement.

Pena said, “This is a direct form of social dumping”. A claim that was rejected by Saipem.

The spokesperson from Saipem stressed that “Compliance with relevant local labour legislation is key to our operations in all countries where we are present”.

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