Authorities raid hotel project
Police and state labour authorities raided a hotel renovation project in Oslo Wednesday, worried that workers there were being paid substandard wages. The hotel is set to be operated by Choice Hotels Scandinavia, a firm owned by high-profile activist Petter Stordalen.
 Hotel operator and businessman Petter Stordalen landed in the middle of a labour controversy on Wednesday. PHOTO: SVEIN ERIK FURULUND |
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Bosnian workers on the hotel renovation project have reportedly been paid as little as NOK 20-30 an hour (USD 4-6), and have had to work 75 hours a week. Officials said construction firm Engra Norge was responsible for the project.
Engra Norge is now under investigation by both the special police unit tracking economic crime (Økokrim) and the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet). Jan Fredrik Holseter, a board member of Engra Norge, told news bureau E24 that "the whole Ansgar project has been a nightmare," but he insists the firm isn’t involved in any criminal activity.
Stordalen, meanwhile, said he was assigning 10 of his own employees in Choice Hotels Scandinavia to learn more about renovation operations at the Ansgar Hotell, which was being converted from a hospice into a hotel that Stordalen's firm would start leasing from this fall.
"We're working to find out the facts here," Stordalen told news service E24, adding that he and his staff were "just as surprised as everyone else" over the charges of so-called "social dumping" at the hotel.
Torgeir Silseth, managing director of Choice Hotels Scandinavian, said the first phase of the hotel project was to be completed by this fall and that the hotel would then operate as a Choice Comfort hotel.
If everything went according to plan, the last phase of the project would be finished next fall, when the hotel was due to be expanded to 160 rooms.
'Grotesque'
Roy Pedersen, leader of a local construction workers' organization, Oslo Bygningsarbeiderforbund, said he has copies of contracts showing the low hourly rates paid to the Bosnian workers. He said material sent from Bosnia has also been used in the hotel.
"We thought the most grotesque examples of social dumping were history," Pedersen said. "But then we find this in our own backyard."
It's an embarrassing situation for Stordalen, who portrays himself as a socially and environmentally minded employer. Just last week, Stordalen teamed with activist Sir Bob Geldof on a new peace initiative, and he's also been involved in environmental demonstrations.
Nina Berglund
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