APACHE CONTRACT
ATTENTION ALL OILC/RMT MEMBERS
10-02-09
Colleagues,
I am aware that a number of you have registered a grievance with your employer regarding the company’s failure to apply the 4-week holiday provision as incorporated into the Offshore Contractors Agreement (OCA). I have to inform you that there is nothing to be gained in pursuing a grievance along these lines, therefore my advice is – withdraw you current grievance.
As we have said on countless occasions, the OCA agreement isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. It cannot be enforced in law, meaning you could not take your ‘grievance’ on to an Employment Tribunal on this basis. Only your contract of employment can be enforced in law, either that or ‘law’ itself. What I mean is; if your contracts provided for 4-weeks paid leave and the company did not honour this provision - you could claim breach of contract. If the ‘law’ stated you had a right to 4-weeks paid leave and the company failed to comply with the law – you could claim failure to comply.
The OCA agreement does neither of these. It is a ‘partnership’ set up which employers such as yours can opt to apply or not. Unless the provisions of the agreement have been written into your contract of employment, you cannot challenge your employer. That’s why there is no point pursuing a grievance on the current grounds and why I strongly recommend you withdraw them.
We await the outcome of the Employment Appeal Tribunal which, if it goes in our favour, will give you the basis of a grievance which will allow you to take it on to Tribunal. If it goes against us, then its’ back to the drawing board I’m afraid. And if the decision does go against us, watch out for other operators reacting, possibly like Apache! What is in place currently with the OCA is a ‘grace and favour’ provision, in short it can be taken away as easily as it was given.
The only other avenue is direct action! However, I understand the operator has done their homework and ensured numbers are low and the workforce has been well and truly divided. If this is the case, we will have to find another way. In the meantime, please accept this advice as there is nothing to be gained with the current basis for grievance. Withdraw the grievance, get organised, and get ready for a different approach, all of which will be explained in the next week or two.
Regards,
Jake Molloy
OILC/RMT