ORGANISING OFFSHORE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2022 :: RMTnews 12 RMT’s biennial national industrial organising conference for offshore grades took place amid growing unrest over pay and conditions in the North Sea. RMT national secretary Darren Procter told the Aberdeen gathering: “There’s currently more food banks than branches of McDonalds. We’ve got an opportunity as a trade union and communities need to acknowledge what trade unions are all about”. Conference also took place on International Day of Women in Maritime and Darren welcomed women delegates as examples of the female activists asserting their place in a traditionally male- dominated sector and Nikki Wood was elected conference chair. RMT regional organiser Jake Molloy highlighted that “safety and industrial relations are always going to be inextricably linked” - in spite of bosses’ insistence otherwise. In a motion that will be submitted to RMT’s AGM, delegates unanimously endorsed a call for an end to three-week tours of duty offshore. Ronald Dickson, energy branch said: I’ve been offshore over 30 years I was lucky enough to work two [weeks on] and three [weeks off]. It was only a few years and it was brilliant: perfect work-life balance. “If you asked most of my colleagues they’d be glad to work three weeks - it’s delay after delay after delay. Some of these guys are working roughly a month, trip after trip after trip. We’re on about fatigue here, these guys are absolutely knackered. “The guys are dying to go back to two and three. Every time they need to make cuts, they always go for the easy option: the working man”. Jake Molloy said: “Just before the pandemic started I went to a meeting of the HSE who were scheduled to start a study of workplace fatigue. That never started and there’s plenty of scope to push this, it fits with the FFS campaign on standardisation”. Ronnie McDonald argued that though there had been little research on the connection between extended tours, fatigue and performance in the oil and gas sector, the union should look to the extensive research conducted by the armed forces on similar issues. “I recommend the RMT fund authoritative research on this issue to the appropriate level,” he said. He also said it was wrong for the motion to describe the shift to “three and three” as an “efficiency saving”, noting: “The motivation wasn’t to improve efficiency, it was to cut costs”. Delegates called on the union to ascertain the “specific training requirements” for workers on offshore wind farms who are contracted on an ad hoc basis - rather than employed directly. David Duboff, Southampton Shipping said that this should break down the different requirements for divers, riggers and other trades and whether there was a difference in requirements for those accessing turbines and between sites. The passage of the motion followed contributions on the missed opportunities of the so-called “just transition” from fossil fuels to ORGANISING OFFSHORE Organising conference for offshore grades meet in Aberdeen to discuss priorities