Failure to agree changes

After employers in the North Sea oil industry proposed to change shift patterns and cut pensions, the union representing the workers, Unite, recorded a failure to agree.

This failure followed announcements of job cuts among many of the firms operating in the sector. About 2,500 workers are to be consulted by the union over what action to take.

Unite industrial officer Tommy Campbell said: “The downturn in oil prices has seen our members’ terms and conditions under attack like never before and while the threat of severe cuts hangs over them, contractors are offering no safeguards in return.”

The Scottish Parliament is due to debate the offshore industry crisis, with Unite welcoming the move. Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “We’ve heard much about the need for a relaxed tax regime to secure investment in North Sea oil and gas, but less about the impact on the industry’s most important resource — its workers.”

He went on to say that oil prices will recover over time, “but there is real danger that the rapid, non-consultative cuts we are witnessing will undermine health and safety, and the future of the industry for years to come”.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-31471391

www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/north-sea-strike-ballot