SETTING THE AGENDA AT TUC

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: october 2008 :: RMTnews 12 Leif Sande – I congratulate OILC and our old allies RMT on their merger, but it is to UK oil workers that I address these remarks. For many years the North Sea employers have been playing a double game. Here in Norway, offshore workers expect and get the respect of the employers, and have negotiated progressively better wages and conditions year on year. High levels of operator compliance with safety law are monitored by a unionised workforce. And Norwegian offshore workers enjoy a quality of life that is second to none in the international oilfield. The vast majority of our members work two weeks offshore with a four week field break. We have also achieved a great degree of harmonisation of the conditions enjoyed by oil company and contractor employees. We are particularly proud of this achievement because initially the difference in conditions enjoyed by these two groups was huge. We know about the vastly inferior conditions experienced by British offshore workers. The greatest evidence of the disrespect shown by the employers is the drastically poor UK offshore safety record. Even according to the regulatory authority, safety, it would seem, is hostage to maintenance cost saving and management incompetence. And with regards to work schedules, many offshore workers are still being wilfully refused even the four weeks holiday promised under European Working Time legislation. Unbelievably, drilling service hands can work over 240 days a year. This state of affairs shows huge disrespect to the workforce and to their families. Of course we face a lot of problems in the Norwegian sector, but because we’re strongly unionised it is easier for us to solve these problems as they arise. I think that’s the main reason for the big difference between Norwegian and UK offshore conditions. On the UK side you still have some way to go. It’s many years since conditions were as favourable as they are today for building a strong UK offshore union. The union that wins the support of UK offshore workers will be well placed to negotiate strong agreements to protect the safety, wages and conditions of their membership. We can demonstrate to you what the oil employers are able, and prepared, to concede to organised workers. RMT with OILC as its offshore division is well placed to begin the task of achieving similar conditions. The challenge to the UK oil workers is to have the courage to join the union. The determination of workers to be treated with respect is necessary before any union can succeed. We in IndustriEnergi will do all in our power to support and defend you. Terje Nustad – My union, SAFE, has had a special relationship with OILC for many years now. You might say that for a large part of the last two decades we have been OILC’s closest, and sometimes only, friend. So we were naturally cautious when we were told you were going to merge with another union. We ourselves know the pressure that being an independent union brings, and also the complications that merger can bring. But we know that your decision was taken seriously. When the OILC leadership recommended the merger with RMT, and the members overwhelmingly supported it, then that is good enough for us. I hope the merger confirms our hope that this will be a big step towards UK offshore workers getting fully organised and moving towards the kind of wages and conditions that our members here in Norway enjoy. Norwegian offshore workers have proved that the oil companies and other offshore employers are willing to enter into meaningful agreements with the workforce. They are willing to negotiate on all aspects of offshore life – safety, wages, schedules and pensions. But only if an organised workforce forces them to negotiate, and no one knows that better than SAFE. We have always been in the forefront of that struggle. And it’s thanks to that that Norwegian oilfield conditions are as good as they are. Having said that, it is also true that the two weeks on four weeks off schedule is the result of good cooperation between Industri Energi and SAFE. If you want a say in your future offshore, and a better schedule with your family ashore, and to put an end to the arrogant bullying that still goes on in some places on the UK sector, then you have to make your own future and join RMT/OILC. OILC has behind them, 20 years of determination to defend oil workers on the North Sea. And now has more resources than ever at its disposal. My own union is determined to do whatever we can to help RMT/OILC make the necessary breakthrough. This is not just generosity from us. As long as Norwegian workers are so far ahead in the wages and conditions that they have won, they are the target for the employers. The employers would love to reduce all North Sea wages and conditions to UK levels. An organised workforce on the UK sector would be a powerful ally for Norwegian workers. But nothing can be won without a struggle. We know some of the employers can be aggressive and brutal. But they are like this whether you organise against them or not. In the UK sector you don’t need to be a union member to be NRB’d if management decide your face does not fit. Being a union member means the employers are less likely to get away with it. On behalf of SAFE, I urge all UK workers to throw their weight behind RMT. I look forward to the day when we have equally good agreements right across both sectors of the North Sea and can widen solidarity to other areas of the international oilfield. BUILDING THE UNION FOR OFFSHORE WORKERS Two Norwegian oil workers union leaders, Leif Sande of Industri Energi and Terje Nustad of SAFE welcome the merger of OILC and RMT