NORTH SEA WOOD GROUP STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2016 :: RMTnews 7 North Sea oil workers are taking further 48-hour strike action against oil services giant Wood Group operating on Shell oil and gas platforms unless plans for further pay cuts are scrapped. Wood Group has imposed three contractor pay cuts over the last eighteen months and slashing its global workforce. A quarter of the 8,000 jobs that the group has axed were UK-based, which the union insists will make it impossible for rigorous North Sea safety standards to be upheld. Oil bosses have used low energy prices to slash spending and put new investments on hold, which has cut revenue to service firms like Wood Group. The Aberdeen-based group has clinched contracts but refused to come up with any solutions in talks over pay reductions, proposed cuts and changes to working conditions. The company is proposing cuts to members’ pay by up to 30 per cent once reductions to allowances are factored in. RMT, along with other trade unions, has objected to these proposals in the strongest possible terms but the company have failed to move. RMT maintains that the situation is totally unnecessary as the Wood Group have just been awarded a new five year contract for North Sea operations, which is valued at $150 million. There is also a financial bonanza letting rip in the company boardroom when it comes to top bosses pay. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that after savage redundancies and attacks on workload and working conditions this group of offshore workers are now told that they are going to be railroaded into accepting pay cuts of up to 30 per cent. Despite strenuous efforts by our negotiators in talks with the company we have so far been unable to make sufficient progress that addresses the concerns of the workforce. “The unions welcome the fantastic support that has been pouring in from around the world. “We are also well aware that the company Chief Executive has had a pay increase of 28 per cent to bring him up to £600,000. “It is obscene that while the top bosses are lining their own pockets they are kicking the workforce from pillar to post. “This brave group of workers are taking a stand against the greed and savagery that is a mark of corporate Britain in 2016,” he said. NORTH SEA WOOD GROUP STRIKE RMT and Unite members kick off more strike action on North Sea oil and gas platforms