Swiss multinational staffing agency Adecco on Thursday saw its bumper profits overshadowed by problems at its Norwegian unit, which is accused of breaking labour law.

"/> Swiss multinational staffing agency Adecco on Thursday saw its bumper profits overshadowed by problems at its Norwegian unit, which is accused of breaking labour law.

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NORWAY

Norway scandal spoils party for Adecco

Swiss multinational staffing agency Adecco on Thursday saw its bumper profits overshadowed by problems at its Norwegian unit, which is accused of breaking labour law.

Swiss multinational staffing agency Adecco on Thursday saw its bumper profits overshadowed by problems at its Norwegian unit, which is accused of breaking labour law.

Several Norwegian municipalities have recently opted not to renew their contracts with the health branch of Adecco Norway following media reports at the end of February alleging numerous cases of illegal working conditions.
  

Adecco reportedly let its temp staff, at their request, work massive amounts of overtime while not being adequately compensated.
 

In one Oslo nursing home, Adecco reportedly allowed its temp employees to work up to 84-hour weeks without overtime pay, and staff reportedly slept in the establishment’s basement to be able to squeeze in more working hours.
 

Following the reports, Adecco Norway acknowledged breaches of the country’s labour laws in health care centres, some of which have dropped their contracts with the Swiss firm.
 

“Our management, our top management, was not aware of it. The people who are involved and that were aware of it, we let go,” Adecco’s chief executive Patrick de Maeseneire was quoted as saying by public broadcaster NRK.  

Adecco later told Norwegian daily Dagbladet that its chief executive’s comments referred to the head of Adecco Norway’s healthcare unit, Baard Kristiansen, who announced his resignation on February 24.
 

With local elections in September, the case has taken on political tones in Norway where the left and right disagree on how are private companies should be allowed to provide healthcare.
 

Norway’s Labour Inspection Authority has asked police to open an investigation into the case.
 

Adecco Norway held a news conference Thursday and promised to fix the situation.
 

“Let me make this clear: everyone will retroactively receive the overtime payment they are entitled to,” the head of the group Anders Oewre-Johnsen said, according to news agency NTB.
 

The scandal erupted as Adecco on Thursday reported soaring results in 2010, with a net profit of €423 million ($587 million) up from just eight million euros a year earlier.

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NORWAY

Norway to send 200,000 AstraZeneca doses to Sweden and Iceland

Norway, which has suspended the use of AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine until further notice, will send 216,000 doses to Sweden and Iceland at their request, the Norwegian health ministry said Thursday.

Norway to send 200,000 AstraZeneca doses to Sweden and Iceland
Empty vials of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

“I’m happy that the vaccines we have in stock can be put to use even if the AstraZeneca vaccine has been paused in Norway,” Health Minister Bent Høie said in a statement.

The 216,000 doses, which are currently stored in Norwegian fridges, have to be used before their expiry dates in June and July.

Sweden will receive 200,000 shots and Iceland 16,000 under the expectation they will return the favour at some point. 

“If we do resume the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, we will get the doses back as soon as we ask,” Høie said.

Like neighbouring Denmark, Norway suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab on March 11 in order to examine rare but potentially severe side effects, including blood clots.

Among the 134,000 AstraZeneca shots administered in Norway before the suspension, five cases of severe thrombosis, including three fatal ones, had been registered among relatively young people in otherwise good health. One other person died of a brain haemorrhage.

On April 15, Norway’s government ignored a recommendation from the Institute of Public Health to drop the AstraZeneca jab for good, saying it wanted more time to decide.

READ MORE: Norway delays final decision on withdrawal of AstraZeneca vaccine 

The government has therefore set up a committee of Norwegian and international experts tasked with studying all of the risks linked to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which is also suspected of causing blood clots.

Both are both based on adenovirus vector technology. Denmark is the only European country to have dropped the AstraZeneca
vaccine from its vaccination campaign, and said on Tuesday it would “lend” 55,000 doses to the neighbouring German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

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