FIGHTING FOR A FAIR SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH SEA

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2015 :: RMTnews 18 The government has accepted the standard and assessment plan for a new Able Seafarer (Deck) Rating Apprenticeship scheme. This new apprenticeship was agreed through the Maritime Trailblazer Working Group which includes RMT, Nautilus, the maritime colleges, the MNTB and employers DFDS, P&O, RFA, James Fisher, Carnival and Princess Cruises. The government has capped public funding for each Able Seafarer Deck Rating Apprentice at £6,000 which would cover around a quarter of the total training costs. RMT national secretary Steve Todd welcomed this progress in the union’s campaign to halt the fall in the number of UK ratings working in merchant shipping. “Apprenticeships are only one part of that campaign but it will help new ratings to get trained up and employed. “We’re working on apprenticeships for engine, catering and on-board services ratings and expect these to follow next year. “This is now a real test of the shipping industry’s long term commitment to UK ratings and we need to see more commitment to ratings apprenticeships from other companies like Stena which have been conspicuous through their absence from the process of designing ratings apprenticeships,” he said. The number of UK deck ratings declined by six per cent between 2013 and 2014 to just 3,020 so it is imperative that UK shipping companies, particularly in the domestic ferry sector, take up this new apprenticeship. “Despite the government’s predictable ignorance of the role trade unions and maritime colleges play in developing and agreeing the deck rating apprenticeship, RMT will continue to contribute to the development of standards and assessment plans for apprentice ratings in engine, catering and on-board services,” Steve said. The new Ratings Apprenticeships designed by the Trailblazer Working Group will replace the previous maritime apprenticeships launched by the Merchant Navy Training Board in 2011. T he union is working hard to reduce the impact on workers in all sectors of the North Sea from the collapse in oil prices over the last year to $48 per barrel, having averaged nearly $100 for the previous three years. Pay cuts, shift increases, ending all bonus schemes and large scale redundancies are resulting from the policies of oil and gas companies who are squeezing the workforce on North Sea installations and the supply chain for every last penny. Safety standards are also coming under pressure, as the over powerful oil industry puts politicians to work in government on its behalf. RMT members know better than anyone the effect that these policies are having on terms and conditions on installations, as well as on contracts in drilling, diving and offshore supply. In all sectors, thousands of workers have had extended shifts and increased working hours imposed on them. And that is amongst those who have been fortunate enough to keep their jobs, with an estimated 65,000 jobs having been lost in the offshore sector and supply chain since August 2014. Over 35,000 jobs have also gone in the Norwegian sector and supply chain. However, there are also exploitative forces at work across the industry and supply chain, and they are using the crisis created by persistently low oil prices to attack jobs, terms and conditions and basic employment rights. For example, the damaging impact of flags of convenience (FoC) across the shipping industry is being acutely felt amongst seafarers working in offshore supply. The Norwegian Second Register and FoC offshore supply vessels are using low cost crewing models to undercut companies like Gulfmark, who claim UK seafarers are too expensive to employ and are recruiting non-UK seafarers on monthly rates of pay below the minimum set by the ITF, in contravention of the Maritime Labour Convention. Offshore divers are also at the sharp end of the ruthless pressure global oil companies are putting on their contractors in the North Sea. Along with severe pay cuts and shift increases, cheap labour is also being imported, as employers plead ‘high cost’ whenever confronted with the consequences of their actions by a unionised membership. The union will continue to pursue all industrial and political avenues in blocking the outrageous attacks on members across the offshore industry and the wider supply chain, including any lessons we can learn from our brothers and sisters in the Norwegian sector. The Living Wage and the principles of Fair Work must be upheld in the offshore industry if there are to be enforceable minimum standards that protect skills and employment for UK workers in the sector. The UK Government retains responsibility for offshore energy policy in the North Sea and the ineffective and pro-oil company nature of George Osborne’s policies to date partly explain why offshore workers across the sector continue to bear the brunt of the low oil price. There are lessons here that need to be learned by all offshore trade unions in the UK and the essential concept of solidarity must prevail if we are to take effective action to stop the decimation of the industry that is underway. Now, more than ever, offshore and supply chain workers need trade unions to negotiate directly with the oil companies to set terms and conditions that cannot be retrospectively torn up. This is what happens in the Norwegian sector and the union should not settle for anything less. FIGHTING FOR A FAIR SETTLEMENT IN THE NORTH SEA NEW DECK RATING APPRENTICESHIPS AGREED