A decision by union members over whether to accept an offer of proposals from the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) will be made today. Both Unite and GMB workers will vote yes or no after months of talks between representatives from both sides. It comes after the GMB union wrote to members last month and urged them to accept a new offer from the OCA, which has 10 full members, including Petrofac, Wood Group PSN and Stork.
Unions have called on the Scottish Government to support a manufacturing yard in Stornoway at risk of being mothballed. The GMB and Unite have written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asking for support to attract contracts to the Arnish yard. The fabrication yard is operated by Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab), which also operates two yards in Fife.
Aberdeen South SNP MP Callum McCaig called on the Caterers Offshore Trade Association (Cota) to restart talks with unions over a staff pay deal. In April, Cota announced it was withdrawing its 2015/16 pay offer, worth around 2% and part of a two-year pay agreement. Unite and RMT remained “keen to engage” with the association, Mr McCaig said, adding he had written to Cota asking for a meeting with the unions as soon as possible.
Drilling company Archer is in consultation with its staff about redundancies on a number of its North Sea operations. The move will affect offshore employees on the Shell Brent Alpha, Bravo and Delta as well as staff known as the “roving crew” according to documents seen by Energy Voice. In a letter to staff, Archer said the redundancies had been caused by the oil major Shell’s announcement it would be ceasing operations on its Brent Delta Rig.