ISSUE 32
The bulletin of
- The offshore energy branch of
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH NOK ER NOK Branch
November 2019
FIGHTING FOR STANDARDS! RMT launched our FIGHTING FOR STANDARDS! campaign on September 17th at our “Organising for Safety” event in Aberdeen. The ‘campaign’ is in effect our charter for the offshore energy sector, it’s what RMT is about and what we seek to bring about. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be quick, but we’ve set targets and we’re here for the long haul. We’ve pulled together the key elements of what members tell us is most important to them, and these are our primary objectives. It’s an ambitious list, but we see these standards as critical to sustaining employment in the offshore energy sector whilst improving health and safety performance. Minimum Standards on pay – along with the other Trade Unions in the sector we see our Collective Agreements like COTA, OCA, ODIA and others as the minimum standards anyone should be working to. If contractors or agencies come in to our sector and pay below these standards they can very quickly drive rates of pay and conditions down. We are committed to having collective agreements as the rates applicable in any tendering process for contracts. We will seek to gain the support of Government, the Regulators and industry to achieve this across the sector and throughout the supply chain. Common Training Standards – why would riggers have one standard of training for oil and gas operations and a different standard when working in decommissioning or renewables? The same question can be asked about divers, scaffolders, technicians and a host of other disciplines. Common, recognised training standards for survival, first aid, fire fighting and other courses must be achieved to allow
Email: oilc@rmt.org.uk
workers to transition into other sectors. The energy industry must be prepared to accept and recognise alternative training.
workers. Our latest survey reported in this edition points to what workers want ….. 2:3 for all!
Standardised rota system – Why not? It’s worked in Norway and Denmark for years. It worked in the UK for years with the standard being 2:2. It can work, if there is a will to make it work. The only thing stopping it is greedy operators looking to squeeze maximum returns for shareholders at the expense of
Improved helicopter safety Standards – it’s a no brainer and one that will continue to develop. RMT was recently part of a group looking at a new helicopter aimed at the North Sea, the Bell 525. We will continue to push this issue, it should be a given!