FIGHTING FOR ØRSTED WORKERS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2023 :: RMTnews 9 RMT’s industrial dispute with Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted is awaiting resolution at TUC level where the union is challenging the controversial national recognition agreement Ørsted has signed with managerial grade union Prospect. RMT’s fight for a decent pay rise, improved safety and other conditions for members at Ørsted’s Burbo Bank wind farm has also caught the attention of officials from the IG Metall union of Germany, where Ørsted’s refusal to reach a satisfactory collective agreement triggered an industrial dispute at the Norddeich site in north-west Germany. IG Metall, Germany’s largest trade union with over 2.2 million members, primarily organise steel and other onshore manufacturing jobs including those in the offshore wind industry. IG Metall officials attending the TUC conference in Liverpool requested a meeting to discuss RMT’s industrial and political response to Ørsted’s divisive tactics in the UK. RMT national secretary Darren Procter met the IG Metall delegation, including Henrik Köller, vice-president of IG Metall Emden. Information was exchanged this month which proved useful to IG Metall’s industrial action in Germany against Ørsted, with a solidarity message from RMT to offshore wind workers in Germany who are fighting back against Ørsted’s attempts to fragment their pay and conditions and to undermine their collective bargaining rights. The union also participated in the ITF’s campaign on behalf of the International Longshoremen of America (ILA), following Ørsted’s calculated failure to honour an agreement to recognise the ILA in the Connecticut port of New London, which has been re-purposed from bulk cargo to offshore wind, using public money. Despite the jobs being dockers jobs, Ørsted has signed an agreement with a a construction union in the USA, in a similar move to their actions in the UK. RMT attended the ITF action at Ørsted’s central London HQ and Mick Lynch issued a solidarity statement from RMT: “The UK has a relatively mature offshore wind market and it is clear that Ørsted has a strategy to divide offshore workers and their trade unions. “It is frustrating to see these actions being replicated in the USA, where Ørsted has already bagged contracts that will be central to hitting the US government’s target of 30GW of offshore wind capacity by the end of the decade. “We stand in solidarity with the members of the International Longshoremen’s Association in Connecticut, where Ørsted is directly benefitting from the public investment which helped convert New London from bulk to an offshore wind port. “Ørsted’s undermining of its previous commitments to the ILA do not bode well for Jones Act compliance or for jobs for US mariners on the fleet of offshore wind vessels being built in America. Ørsted’s engagement with trade unions in the USA, UK, Germany and elsewhere borders on dishonest. “This culture of union busting has to end through a stable culture of sectoral collective bargaining rights, at Ørsted in Connecticut and across the global offshore wind industry. “ Offshore wind farms must be progressive from a worker as well as environmental perspective and RMT stand in support of the ILA and every other trade union member around the world in struggle at Ørsted,” he said. These are effective links to establish with fellow trade union members in struggle with a multinational offshore energy employer. The union will continue to share information with international trade unions and to campaign for sectoral collective bargaining rights for workers at Ørsted and across the offshore energy industry. FIGHTING FOR ØRSTED WORKERS Union exchanges solidarity with German and United States counterparts in struggle offshore wind developer Ørsted cable laying and other specialist work. That must not be allowed to compromise safety and in order to do that, we need to empower workers by providing them with clear, enforceable and responsive safety regimes,” he said. RMT believes that workers across the offshore energy sector and their families deserve better, and for this reason it will continue to campaign for change to ensure that when offshore energy workers join their respective vessel or installation, they will know what safety standards are applicable and that they have protection in place – irrespective of the work that the vessel or installation is carrying out around the UK coast. There must be a linkage between the licensing of contracts and the protection of workers within the offshore energy sector for safety and employment standards. And the question must be asked as to why this government is failing to address this void and leave offshore energy workers and seafarers within the renewables sector without protection. The UK government developed a tried and tested set of regulations and legislation for the oil and gas sector after the death of 167 workers on the Piper Alpha offshore oil platform in the North Sea in 1988. “RMT believes much of the regulatory ‘pack’ developed in the aftermath of Piper Alpha could be extended or adapted to ‘offshore energy project vessels and structures’. “We believe this could be achieved relatively easily if the political will was there,” said Darren Procter. SOLIDARITY: RMT national secretary Darren Procter with German IG Metall members