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THE on-off strike threat by fish meal workers in Iceland looks to be back on again.
After being declared illegal by an industrial relations court, production staff at all but one of Iceland's eight fish meal sites have now apparently complied with their own strike laws and are ready for the second time to take industrial action.The strike, which is over wages, will start after seven days after a ballot result and will continue until a compromise settlement has been found.
Attempts will be made over the next few days to try to find a formula acceptable to both sides. But what is worrying Icelandic fish processors is that the capelin season is in full swing and there will be no-one to process the fish offal.Trawler firms are now considering landing their catches in neighbouring countries such as the Faroe Islands as a means of getting around the stoppage.
The Icelandic media reported yesterday that relations between the two sides had snapped. the unions said that negotiations with employers federation to try to establish a new collective agreement had been exhausted. The omens for a settlement do not look good with a continuing war of words going on between the opposing parties.
Meanwhile, a dispute of another kind appears to be on the horizon - this time between Icelandic vessel owners and the authorities over new proposals over how much ice can be taken into account when weighing fish catches.
The authorities want to restrict the weight to six per cent of the total weight, but the owners say this is too little. They argue that plenty of ice is needed to keep catches in good condition and preserve the fish, arguing that sometimes it is not unusual for ice layers to make up between 15 and 20 per cent of the overall catch weight.
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