Threat of UKCS Strike Action Increases
The threat of strike action on the UKCS has increased, after UK union Unite and the Offshore Contractors Association failed to settle a dispute over pay.
Independent conciliation organization ACAS met with representatives from both Unite and OCA April 19, with Unite confirming after the meeting that it would push ahead with preparations for official industrial action ballots.
A strike ballot notice could be served as early as the end of April, followed by a two month long strike ballot, according to a union representative.
No new negotiations between Unite and the OCA are currently planned.
Following the meeting, OCA CEO Paul Atkinson, said he was extremely disappointed that Unite appeared “unwilling to engage on the issues which are so important to their members.”
“Our priority has always been to find ways of avoiding any disruption,” Atkinson said in a statement sent to Rigzone.
“We believe that the OCA has acted as a fair negotiator throughout this process and that our approach balances the needs of employees with the requirements of business … We remain firmly committed to doing all we can to find a lasting solution to this dispute,” he added.
In a March consultative ballot, 81 percent of Unite members voted to reject the latest pay deal put forward by their employers (represented by the OCA).
This was the second pay offer rejected by Unite members, after 85 percent voted to discard a separate OCA proposal back in December of last year. According to a Unite statement, the proposal would not have seen an increase in pay nor improvement to workers’ terms and conditions.
Unite has said that it is seeking a “significant” wage increase for members, along with improved sick pay and paid travel time to an employer’s onshore base.
In response to the latest dispute between Unite and the OCA, industry body Oil & Gas UK emphasized the need for the parties to work together.
“The business climate continues to be really challenging for our industry. We really hope all parties can keep talking because we want the UK Continental Shelf to be seen by investors as an attractive place in which to do business,” Oil & Gas UK Chief Executive Deirdre Michie said to Rigzone April 10.
“We all need to work together to deliver a competitive future for the basin which still supports hundreds of thousands of UK jobs,” she added.
Meanwhile, Rigzone readers wouldn’t support a strike by Unite members if one does indeed go ahead, according to a recent Rigzone poll.
Would you support UKCS workers if they were to go on strike in the near future over a fiscal dispute with the OCA?
— Rigzone (@Rigzone) 10 April 2017
Fifty-nine percent of the 46 voters that took part in the poll said those that went on strike wouldn’t have their backing, compared to 41 percent who said they would support striking workers.
North Sea Workers Have Future ‘As Long As They Help Reduce Costs’
One of the most pressing issues in a mature province with aging assets and infrastructure like the North Sea is cost, according to Mamdouh G. Salameh a visiting professor of energy economics at the ESCP Europe Business School in London.
As such, oil and gas workers in the region need to do their part to help out, Salameh suggested.
“Oil and gas workers working in the North Sea have a future as long as they are part of the solution helping to reduce costs by moderating their demands,” he said.
BP plc, Chevron Corp., BG Group plc and Statoil ASA are already reassessing capital spending decisions that might have helped extend the oil province’s life, Salameh highlighted.
“Without their investment, there is a growing risk that some of the UK North Sea’s remaining economically-recoverable resources, estimated at between 15 and 16.5 billion barrels of oil and natural gas, will end up as so-called stranded assets – hydrocarbons that are simply too expensive to develop,” he said.
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