North Sea Oil Workers Vote to Strike as Industry Profits Decline

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A section of offshore oil workers in the North Sea voted for industrial action this week following a protracted dispute over pay and working conditions, but recent union laws may mean the numbers arenโ€™t enough to support aย strike.

A large majority of GMB union members voted in favour of the strike motion in response to the last round of negotiations with the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) breaking down inย April.

Declining profits in the North Sea have meant the offshore workforce has already suffered a number of redundancies and pay cuts in recent years. As jobs are increasingly threatened, union members working under the OCA have rejected a latest pay offer which would see their wages fall after inflation is accountedย for.

The Conservative party has pledged to do all it can to keep the industry going as the oil fields dry up. But unionists and campaigners are concerned not enough is being done to help communities transition to greener jobs as the industry winds down and the UK progresses towards its low carbon goals.

Those who voted in a separate ballot of Unite union members also favoured a strike, but not enough eligible members came forward to meet the legal requirements for strikeย action.

โ€œAn overwhelming majority of Unite offshore workers voted for strike action but there is no legal mandate for the action,โ€ said Unite regional officer, Tommy Campbell. โ€œThis is because the Tory anti-union laws required a 50 percent threshold of all union members to beย met.โ€

The RMT Union has also balloted its members for strike action, with results due out later today. All three unions will meet with the OCA on Thursday to try and reach a settlement, with the unionโ€™s position partially weakened due to the failure of Unite to bring a strikeย forward.

โ€œThe best solution is that we negotiate to find a way forward,โ€ said GMB national officer, Ross Murdoch. โ€œBut I donโ€™t know if a lot has changed in terms of avoiding a potentially messyย dispute.โ€

Jobs are a burgeoning issue in the offshore industry in the North Sea, as profits decline due to low oil prices and the increasing cost ofย extraction.

The end result of this is the winding down of oil and gas facilities that are no longer profitable, in a process known asย decommissioning.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), a government regulator, said this week that decommissioning in the North Sea will cost an estimated ยฃ59.7bn. Half of this will be paid for directly by oil companies while the rest is effectively paid with public money through taxย breaks.

Unions are concerned that there is little planning from the government on what will happen to those jobs lost as the oil industry slowsย down.

โ€œThe issue comes up time and time again about jobs,โ€™ said Murdoch. โ€œIf the government is serious about scaling anything back then they need to come up with meaningful replacement jobs because otherwise it has a massive impact on the workers and their families and their wholeย communities.โ€

Photo: Suncor Energy via Flickr | CCย 2.0

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