We have now signed an agreement on wages and working conditions for MDN employees in connection with the Mærsk Innovator yardstay in the UK and Innovator Resource Pool. The agreement is enclosed. 

Yesterday, the company sent out an info on the situation that describes the situation well. So, we have thus agreed, after long discussions and meetings during the recent months. There have been many rumors about new contracts, changes to contracts, etc. Indeed, it seems that most rigs that have been operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf have been involved. But now the company has decided to set a line for speculations.
It is expected that Innovator will go to the UK during July. Many of the crews from Innovator will follow at the transit and during the yardstay in the UK. This period is expected to take about 6 weeks. The Agreement will be identical to as if you were working on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. So, we bring along the Collective Agreement to UK. When the individuals are done in the UK, they will be transferred to the "Innovator Resource Pool", as described below. If you are asked to work in the UK when you are being transferred to "Innovator Resource Pool", it will on voluntary basis if you accept to work in the UK.

The remaining crew onboard Innovator who does not join the move to the UK is transferred to an "Innovator Resource Pool". The difference between the current fixed rotation is that there will be a deviation in outbound / homebound travels. The week you normally travel offshore according to your normal schedule will not necessarily be on the same day as before, but it may be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Any additional work will be compensated according to the Collective Agreement. The Agreement also states that when you normally are finishing working in UK (about 6 weeks from July), it will be voluntary to travel to the UK within the "Innovator Resource Pool". 

During the period from Innovator goes to the UK and until the crew appears to be finally set with Inspirer in Bergen/Egersund, we see few changes for the other units. This work is expected to be completed in November. Intrepid were supposed to be in hotel mode from July / August, but the rig takes on a small drilling job for AkerBP, thus the downsizing of the crew is delayed accordingly. However, this is included in all overall calculations. 

All work in the UK comes with a tax guarantee. The memo on the subject will be submitted when prepared. This means that you do not have to pay more taxes in connection with your stay in the UK than you were supposed to pay if you had continued working on the NCS. 

All of these scenarios are included in the agreement we have signed. This means that the number of our 97 colleagues who received notice of termination in winter/spring are greatly reduced. 74 of those who should be terminated will retain their jobs. This we have done considering an agreement for Inspirer in Bergen/Egersund and with a sharp increase in the regular Competence Pool (50-60 persons). 

All in all, we are pleased. We have reduced redundancies with about 74 good colleagues, unfortunately, about 20 others lose their jobs.

Below we have pasted the information from the company and the protocols are attached. An English version comes as soon as we have translated.

Personnel situation
In January, notice of termination of 97 employees was submitted in connection with Mærsk Innovator going to the UK. During the following period there have been several changes in the expected employment situation for rigs in Norway. Therefore, the company decided to postpone the downmanning process for most employees in March and April. This with an expectation of retaining more employees than previously assumed.

MDN is asked to assist Mærsk Innovator during a yardstay in the UK and that Mærsk Inspirer will come to Norway this autumn. In dialogue with the trade union we have agreed on the terms of MDN employees in the UK, as well as established a Mærsk Innovator Competence Group and further withdraw notice of termination for a large part of the affected, a total of 74 employees. The intention is to avoid several major changes in the crew before up-manning on Mærsk Inspirer towards the end of the year. The remaining redundancies will be sent out on 31 May 2018.