TIME FOR CHANGE FOR OFFSHORE WORKERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2019 :: RMTnews 19 R MT has demanded government intervention to prevent the loss of hundreds of Scottish and UK seafarer ratings’ jobs following Tidewater’s buy out of Gulfmark to form the world’s largest offshore supply vessel (OSV) company. Houston-based offshore support vessel (OSV) operator Tidewater completed the acquisition of rival firm GulfMark at the end of last year. Tidewater will take on GulfMark’s fleet, which has a large focus on the North Sea, into its own and GulfMark has ceased trading on the New York stock exchange. Tidewater President and Chief Executive Officer John Rynd said: “we look forward to commencing the work of integrating our fleets and shore- based operations in order to quickly and fully realize the strategic and financial benefits of this business combination". As a result up to 300 ratings jobs are on the line, with Tidewater refusing to discuss the future of Gulfmark’s UK- registered fleet with the recognised union, RMT. RMT general secretary Mick Cash called on Tidewater to meet the union in Aberdeen for immediate discussion of members’ jobs on the fleet of offshore supply vessels acquired as part of the Gulfmark takeover. “We cannot have another damaging loss of UK ratings’ jobs and I fully expect the Shipping Minister Nusrat Ghani MP, with whom we had a useful discussion of the Tidewater- Gulfmark takeover in October, to step in to protect seafarers’ jobs in the North Sea, if necessary. "Predatory companies seeking to slash terms and conditions and discriminate against foreign seafarers by paying well below the National Minimum Wage must be driven out of the shipping industry. “As we head for the EU exit, non-EU companies in the North Sea need a strong reminder from trade unions and the government of the need to protect British seafarers’ jobs and trade union rights in the OSV sector,” he said. For the public at large an offshore worker is considered ‘lucky’ because – “they get half the year off!” Given this opinion the idea an offshore worker should have more time off is unlikely to get much public support. However, to consider how ‘lucky’ the offshore worker is you have to understand the various aspects of ‘time’ and there are three types of ‘time’. “Working Time” is the time spent physically working offshore, which, on a 3:3 rota, is 12-hours a day for 21 consecutive days, doing a total of 182-days a year. So, doing the maths, that’s equal to 42 hours a week, every week of the year. This doesn’t include the hours offshore spent off-shift. It doesn’t include overtime worked or the time spent attending training courses onshore. It also means sacrifice, having worked Christmas offshore for six consecutive years, missed the birth of my daughter, birthdays, weddings, funerals and the loss of my mother, I got off lightly compared to others. “Field Break” is the time spent away from the oil ‘field’ taking a ‘break’ hence the term “field break”. The worker should be at home resting for 3-weeks, but for many it will involve spending more time away from home on a training course. “Holiday” is time some workers get away from work. In other words, like every other type of worker in every other industry, it is time off work taking a holiday. However, for many offshore workers the “holiday time” has to be taken during the “Field Break” time, meaning there is no time off work. Putting that into context, it would be comparable to a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 worker being told to take their holidays during their weekends. The UK offshore sector has too many variations and applications of ‘time’ creating inequality, unfairness and low morale. A standardised system of working is long overdue and 2- weeks working time followed by 3-weeks field break must now be considered the simplest, fairest approach. It also eliminates the “holiday time” element and it would bring the working year of offshore workers down to somewhere around the average worked across UK industry. TIME FOR CHANGE FOR OFFSHORE WORKERS RMT regional organiser Jake Molloy explains why oil workers should get a better deal when it comes to working hours TIDEWATER AND GULFMARK