BP PAYS DIVIDENDS, SHEDS WORKERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june bulletin 3 2020 :: RMTnews 6 R MT has condemned the government for supporting the payment of shareholder dividends when redundancy notices are being handed out in midst of Covid-19 crisis. RMT responded with anger at comments by a Cabinet Minister supporting BP’s decision to press ahead with paying out a £1.7 billion dividend to shareholders when redundancy notices are being handed out to workers by contractors on their North Sea platforms. Tory Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg MP said that it would “not be right” for the government to stop companies paying dividends to their shareholders, even if they are seeking state support because of Covid-19. He said that it was up to individual firms whether they awarded dividends this year. RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said that it was the latest display of corporate greed at the expense of offshore oil and gas workers facing redundancy, the risk of Covid-19 infection and a premature end to operations in the North Sea. " Offshore workers, including my members working for Wood on the BP installations Andrew, Clair, Clair Ridge, ETAP and Glen Lyon in the North Sea and west of Shetland are being handed redundancy notices whilst BP bumps up its share price by announcing that it will pay a £1.7bn dividend in June. "This appalling display of corporate extremism, fully endorsed by Cabinet Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg makes it quite clear that this government is failing North Sea oil and gas workers and the economic future of Scotland and the UK,” he said. workers. Improved helicopter safety Standards – 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 Standardised safety observation schemes – One scheme must be applied across the sector so that every worker knows what the expectations are, what a good TBT is, what the golden rules are. Improved accommodation Standards – single occupancy must be the goal. Accommodation modules can be altered to make it possible and in today’s environment of more work pressure and greater responsibility a bit of “me time” is vital. It’s been the standard in Norway for years! Accepted medical Standards – this might appear a strange one to most people, but wait until you’ve been off sick for a while then you’ll know all about it. You’re GP says you’re fit; a consultant you’ve been seeing says you’re fit; the company’s own Occupational Health Advisor says you’re fit; but the client’s Doctor (the operator) thinks differently and you’re told you can’t go back to work! What’s the point of having a “standard” that can be ignored? Standardised diving tables – the time taken to put a diver into compression or “blow down” as it’s called and the time it takes to decompress a diver can be changed depending on where you are working and who you are working for. More importantly if it is done too quickly in either direction it can have devastating consequences for the divers, with symptoms ranging from generally feeling weak and ill for a considerable time up to permanent disablement. Recognised competency Standards – how can you be ‘competent’ to do a job on one site, but then be considered not to be ‘competent’ to do the same job at another site? In our experience it tends to be down to a ‘Standards’ body telling industry that they and they alone must assess competence using their systems. This is without question a prime example of the ‘tail wagging the dog’! Improved Safety Rep Standards – training, protections, involvement and empowerment must all be looked at to give the role the credibility it requires. More importantly Safety Reps must be delivering to the constituents they represent, by making sure workers have a voice and are able to influence safety. We’re unlikely to get the regulations changed but the standards expected of employers and workers taking up the post can certainly be looked at and improved. Standardised fitness assessments – there are more and more differentials in the field of ‘fitness assessment’ to work in the sector. You need to be fitter to work on a turbine because there’s lots of stairs! Really? And there’s no stairs on a production platform like “Stair Ridge”? You might be working in a leg; you might be a first aider; you might be a fire team member; and so the list goes on. We need this sorting for offshore and for the diving sector where standards are being ‘tweaked’ again. This is separate from Medical Standards as the medical deals with basic medical condition. Medical Retirement Standard – As we get older, some of us see our general ‘fitness’ drop off a bit. We’re maybe not able for all those stairs or going through another Survival Course. The thing is, you’ve put all those years in and you don’t want to walk away with nothing! We have to find a solution and it may link to the point about Standardised Fitness Assessments. BP PAYS DIVIDENDS, SHEDS WORKERS