Unite Calls on Members to Back Motion Supporting Public Offshore Investment

Unite Calls on Members to Back Motion Supporting Public Offshore Investment
Unite calls on its members to support a motion, scheduled for debate in Scottish Parliament Feb. 23, which outlines that the UK offshore oil and gas industry needs public investment to secure its future.

UK union Unite has called on its members to write to their local politicians and support a motion, scheduled for debate in Scottish Parliament Feb. 23, which outlines that the UK offshore oil and gas industry needs public investment to secure its future.

 

 

The motion backs the use of Scottish and UK Government borrowing powers to leverage money into the industry, including active consideration of strategic public stakes in infrastructure investment, and notes calls on the Scottish Government to facilitate discussions with the UK Government, industry and trade unions to create a plan for co-investment that will support jobs.

Nearly 90 percent of Unite’s offshore members supported the Scottish or UK Governments taking a public stake in offshore companies to protect jobs and to secure investment, according to a survey carried out in November last year.

The motion, which is supported by a number of politicians, has achieved cross party support, according to Unite.

In addition to calling for public investment for the UK oil and gas industry, motion S5M-02310 claims that over 120,000 jobs were lost in the sector as a result of the downturn at the end of 2016.

Unite has previously called on the Scottish and Westminster governments to get together and develop a sustainable future for the Scottish oil and gas industry.

“We have repeatedly called for a summit between the Scottish and Westminster governments to look at the future of our offshore sector,” Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said in a statement.

“We need to bring everyone to the table and come up with plans for joint investment that will support the jobs of our members and create a sustainable future for the oil and gas industry in Scotland,” he added.

The union’s statement was made following news that unemployment in Scotland has risen for the third time in a row.



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MikeM  |  February 20, 2017
Public investment? ummm....no. Why should UK taxpayer money be put at risk for investments that private money considers unattractive? Didnt the UK go through all this with nationalized coal, iron and steel, electricity, gas and railways in the 1940s? It took until the 1970s for the government to be successfully extricated. None of which should prevent a sovereign wealth fund from investing under the same terms as any other equity owner. But lets not use public funds to prop up marginal investments unable to attract capital.


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