Equinor strike expands

The Tromsø / Finnmark news of the past 48 hours is marked by the expansion of the strike at Equinor, the mobilisation of the idretten to take over the Tromsøhallen project, and the publication of an external review of the whistleblowing routines at Finnmarkssykehuset. Since the dissolution of the county of Troms og Finnmark on 1 January 2024, the area covered corresponds to the two separate counties of Troms and Finnmark.

Tromsø / Finnmark news: the strike expands at Equinor

On Friday 9 October, Fellesforbundet withdrew 48 more employees in the strike that has hit Equinor's facilities across the country for two weeks. In total, more than 250 people — cleaning staff and canteen personnel — are now on strike (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

Fellesforbundet and NHO Service og Handel remain far apart in negotiations on a new collective agreement. Workers are demanding, among other things, a wage increase aligned with the frontfaget, with a framework of 4.4%, as well as advances on parental, care and sick-leave benefits (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

The Fellesforbundet shop steward at Equinor's gas plant at Melkøya, Johan Berger, says the willingness to strike is strong among employees: "We are prepared to strike for a long time if necessary," he says (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark). The agreement for the workers concerned falls within a low-pay occupation.

Tromsøhallen: the idretten wants to take over the project

After Tromsø was placed on the ROBEK list, the kommunedirektør proposed putting the construction plans for the new Tromsøhallen on hold. The new building is estimated at over 500 million kroner and is meant to replace the 1979 facility (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

The sports community does not want to give up. "One possible solution could be to see whether we can carry out the project in the hands of sport itself. That means we take over the project from the municipality, but we still want to keep the municipality as a very, very strong partner," explains Alf-Konrad Wilhelmsen, daily manager of Tromsø idrettsråd, from his office at Alfheim (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

Finnmarkssykehuset: failing whistleblowing routines

An investigation conducted by the firm Deloitte concluded that the whistleblowing routines at Finnmarkssykehuset showed serious weaknesses, NRK reports. The whistleblower "Ella", a former ambulance locum, reacts: "It is hard to understand how Deloitte can assess the handling of my case without my input," she says (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

"Ella" recounts that she was pressured into having sexual relations with her superior while working as a locum on the ambulance service in Finnmark. Her report did not lead anywhere; she received fewer shifts and no longer works in the service (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark). An NRK investigation has counted 26 reports within the Finnmark ambulance service, relating to sexual assault, degrading remarks towards women, threats and breaches of rest-time rules.

Environment and weather: polluted shooting range, snow on the mountain passes

In Tromsdalen, Forsvarsbygg refused to be a party to the case of the contaminated shooting range. Tromsø municipality had hoped that the historical users would shoulder the multi-million-kroner bill (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

On Friday morning, Statens vegvesen cameras showed snow on the E6 at Gratangsfjellet and on Fylkesvei 7862 Kaperskaret. A little snow also fell at Skibotn overnight, according to operator Christer Berntsen of Vegtrafikksentralen Nord-Norge. Roads are slippery on several mountain passes in Finnmark, notably fylkesvei 888 Bekkarfjord – Hopseidet, the E6 at Hatter and in places on Sennalandet. Sub-zero temperatures were recorded at Bardufoss (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

📌 Local briefs

A man in his twenties has been sentenced to prison after trying to deliver 2 grams of narcotics and a small phone inside a snus tin fixed under a public toilet at the Tromsø tinghus in January last year (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

The person arrested after shots were heard in Kautokeino on Wednesday evening has been released from varetekt. He is suspected of an offence under section 188, reckless handling of firearms (NRK Tromsø / Finnmark).

A driver was clocked at 123 km/h by the UP in Finnmark; a person fell off an electric scooter in Tromsø, and an artist from Tromsø has created a new work (iFinnmark, Nordlys, iTromsø).

Sources: NRK Tromsø / Finnmark, Nordlys, iTromsø, iFinnmark, The Local Norway — Period: 09 October 2026 and 10 October 2026