A LONG-RUNNING battle over offshore workers’ rights to paid leave reaches the UK Supreme Court later this month.
Willie Wallace, regional officer for the Unite union in the north-east, said yesterday the case would be heard on October 26 and 27.
A year ago, the Court of Session in Edinburgh ruled that the shift patterns of offshore workers satisfied all the requirements of European working-time rules.
The judgment was issued four months after the RMT and Unite unions appealed against an employment appeal tribunal ruling denying offshore workers more paid holidays.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK hailed Lord Eassie’s decision as the right one and urged the two unions not to continue their battle to secure extra paid leave for about 14,000 North Sea workers.
But the RMT said the verdict was “a real kick in the teeth” for members, while Unite said it would consider the “complex” judgment before deciding its next step.
The two unions, which say members are losing out on the right to four weeks’ annual paid leave over and above normal time off, launched a further appeal.
European working-time regulations were extended offshore in 2003 and since then a series of tribunal hearings have taken place to determine how the rules should be interpreted and applied.
Employers say time off work, typically 26-plus weeks a year, more than meets the minimum legal requirement for paid leave.
The row stems from an employment tribunal case against Transocean International Resources and other firms in which seven staff claimed they were denied paid annual leave they were entitled to under the working-time rules.
Most offshore workers work a shift pattern of two weeks on followed by two weeks off.
The unions claim time on shore is a break between shifts and distinct from annual leave.