RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow, will be on the Aberdeen Airport OILC/RMT information desk from 10.30am on Monday August 10th and will be available for comment throughout the day.
The UK offshore oil & gas industry is suffering the effects of significant reductions in investment brought about by the banking crisis and volatile oil prices. As a consequence, many offshore companies are announcing ‘cost cutting’ measures which range from; project delays or cancellations; restructuring; cuts to maintenance budgets; cuts to pay, leave and other terms and conditions of employment; and cuts in staff numbers - redundancies.
All of this means an uncertain and anxious time ahead for offshore oil and gas workers. For this reason OILC/RMT are today announcing an initiative aimed at providing information and support directly to industry workers in these troublesome times. The geographical and logistical problems associated with the offshore industry make it extremely difficult to visit workers at their place of employment. So in a ‘first’ for trade unions, OILC/RMT will operate an information and support desk from August 10th in the main terminal building at Aberdeen airport for a period of 2 weeks. The desk will be operated from airport opening until closing, 7 days a week for the period.
RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow, said; “OILC and RMT have a long tradition of providing quality services to workers. As a combined organisation we are upping our game in an effort to assist workers through these difficult times. Aberdeen airport has the biggest throughput of offshore workers in the UK, that’s why we chose the location to kick-off this campaign. We are taking our support and organisational services directly to the workers, to the nearest and most accessible point of contact to their place of work.”
This will be the first in a series of exercises run by OILC/RMT aimed at providing services directly to offshore workers. Following Aberdeen, the aim is to take the support desk to Humberside, then on to Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Blackpool over the course of the next few months.
RMT Regional Organiser, Jake Molloy said; “We are being inundated with concerns about wage cuts and redundancies, and how these cuts may impact on health and safety performance. While we’ll be using this exercise to provide information and support to workers, we will also be taking time to gather information about the effects of the cost cutting.”
RMT Regional Organiser, Jake Molloy, will be on the information desk from 10am on Monday August 10th and will be available for comment throughout the day.
For further information contact 01224 210118; or mobile 07711 359705; or email; j.molloy@rmt.org.uk
ENDS.