News

We have received an appeal for solidarity action from our UK affiliate Unite in support of oil workers on the North Sea.

Workers employed by Wood Group working on Shell Oil platforms overwhelmingly voted to stage a 24 hour strike on 26 July. The strike action, the first of its kind in the offshore industry in over 30 years, is a response to attempts by Wood Group to cut pay and allowances by 30 %.

The decision to strike was made after a resounding endorsement from Wood Group employees, with 99.1 % of members voting in the ballot voting for strike action.

As well as cuts in pay, workers were also unhappy that a working cycle of two-weeks offshore was being changed to a three-week cycle without any increase in salary or benefits. The work-life balance issues arising from a change in offshore working cycles were also a grave concern for workers.

The result followed a breakdown in talks after Wood Group showed little willingness to resolve the dispute. UNI affiliate Unite the Union, and the RMT Union have both backed the strike action.

To support Wood Group workers, please send a message of support to offshoreunite@gmail.com, or post messages of solidarity to the Unite Offshore Facebook page or Twitter @offshoreunite to keep up with developments on social media.