Offshore oil and gas strikers in the North Sea want better pay (Picture: Wikimedia/Creative Commons)
Hundreds of offshore workers went on a 24-hour unofficial strike last Thursday. Work stoppages took place in several oil and gas fields in the North Sea. These included Buzzard, Beryl Alpha, Armada, Judy, Britannia, Forties Echo, Bravo, Alpha and Delta, Gannet, Pioneer, Jade, Everest and Brae Alpha and the Erda rig and the FPF-1 and BW Catcher production facilities.
It is the second major unofficial action this year, after workers staged a “wage revolution” walkout in May. Helicopters weren’t able to land on a number of platforms as deck staff joined the dispute. Among many grievances, offshore workers are demanding their pay be brought in line with onshore staff.
They are dissatisfied with the current terms of the Energy Services Agreement (ESA)—a collective bargaining agreement which sets minimum pay and conditions for around 5,000 workers. The ESA is agreed between the GMB, Unite and RMT unions and 14 employers. Its purpose is to maintain “stability and certainty on a substantive cost element for the industry and investors”.
The contractors in the dispute are Bilfinger, Stork and Wood. These service companies provide workers to the oil giants who run the platforms, including scaffolders, painters, deck crew and insulators. A group to coordinate the strikes has been set up given the surge in oil and gas prices and company profits. It was after the May action that Bilfinger joined the ESA.
Workers are demanding an increase to base rates of £7 an hour, following the surge in oil and gas prices and increases in inflation. One worker pointed out that oil profits are “at an all‑time high”. He added, “The cost of living has gone up dramatically and the wages, on the other hand, have gone down or stalled dramatically.”
A letter from the organisers said, “We constantly watch the men and women at the top take home massive pay rates and bonuses, yet they treat us like scum.” Disgracefully unions said that any unofficial action would jeopardise future pay and jobs deals. Employers warned that striking workers may face disciplinary action.
Unions said, “ongoing formal negotiations around changes to skills, allowances and meals” are taking place and, “Our concern is that unofficial action risks everything. Some operators on the old infrastructure will use industrial unrest to justify early decommissioning and all we’ll get is more redundancies. Others will see a divided workforce and will exploit that.”
The unions added, “Trying a smash and grab job for short term gains we fear will only put the whole thing at risk.” Offshore work has a rotten history of sweetheart deals and blacklists. The unions should be standing with workers trying to get decent pay, not condemning them along with the bosses.
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