Unite members have echoed the result of RMT workers by voting in favour of strike action on Shell’s North Sea assets.
It comes just hours after the first ballot results came through from RMT which showed Wood Group staff backing both strike action and action short of a strike.
More than 200 workers across both unions have been balloted over strike action.
The next course of action will now be decided between the two unions collectively.
Unite said members in Wood Group had voted “overwhelmingly” in support of taking industrial action.
The union said 99.1% of those voting had back strike action while 99.5% had said yes on action short of a strike.
Wood Group said it was “extremely disappointed” with the decision.
Unite regional officer John Boland said: “Wood Group could have avoided this escalation through meaningful negotiations, instead it has chosen to continue with this shameful attack on our members pay and working conditions.
“Wood Group needs to drop its refusal to properly negotiate to halt this dispute and take a step back from implementing the crippling cuts to our members pay, terms and conditions.
“Our members have worked with Wood Group to secure its future in what has been extremely challenging times for the sector. The least the company can do is to show a similar commitment to its workforce by dropping these swingeing cuts.”
STRIKE ACTION: RMT votes in favour
It’s understood more than 200 workers from Unite voted to strike.
Unions had decided to ballot their members in May after initial talks regarding 30% pay cuts to eight of Shell’s North Sea platforms – the Shearwater, Gannet, Nelson, Curlew, Brent Delta, Brent Alpha, Brent Bravo and Brent Charlie.
A spokesman for Shell said:“We are monitoring the situation and hope that Wood Group’s employees and management can resolve their issues.
“The safety of our people and assets will not be compromised as we implement efficiency measures, in common with the entire North Sea oil and gas industry, to ensure we can be competitive in a lower for longer oil price environment.”
Wood Group and unions had been in talks again last week ahead of the ballot result.
The results broke down with Unite accusing the company of refusing “to move on any of the major issues” and seemed “determined” to force the issue into an industrial dispute.
The claim was disputed by a spokeswoman for Wood Group who said its “strongly” refuted the allegation made.
It said the company had met with unions 11 times and also with shop stewards.
Senior management is also said to have visited all the platforms to engage with the workforce.
Last year, disputes around unilateral changes to staff rotas, rate of pay, sick pay and holiday pay proposed by the Offshore Contractors’ Association which employs thousands of offshore workers forced a ballot.
Shell North Sea Strike Action: What we know so far
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