{"id":10648,"date":"2016-11-21T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10648"},"modified":"2016-11-22T14:39:35","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T14:39:35","slug":"bleak-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10648","title":{"rendered":"Bleak future?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On the eve of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Autumn Statement on Wednesday (November 23), Unite has revealed the necessity of immediate state intervention following a survey of the offshore workforce which found the vast majority of oil and gas workers foreseeing a bleak future for their industry.<\/p>\n

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Nearly nine in 10 of the 779 surveyed backed Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for government support of the industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201d more than half said they saw no future for oil and gas in the UK unless the state took steps to help.<\/p>\n

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Worryingly, almost one in four surveyed had a much more pessimistic outlook \u00e2\u20ac\u201d reporting that they saw no future in the sector at all.<\/p>\n

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Those who took part in the survey almost unanimously agreed that both the Scottish and UK governments were not doing enough to support the beleaguered offshore sector, which has been in crisis over the last year after the price of oil plummeted.<\/p>\n

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It is estimated that by the end of the year, job losses could total an astonishing 120,000.<\/p>\n

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The oil and gas workers surveyed by Unite are well attuned to the ups and downs of the industry \u00e2\u20ac\u201d some 60 per cent of workers in the survey have been in the industry for more than 10 years, and 35 per cent for over 20 years.<\/p>\n

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Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty pointed to these numbers as proof that the government should take heed.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are workers who have seen the peaks and troughs of the industry over the years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen experienced people like that say they fear for the future, we should all listen.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Industrial strategy?\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime minister Theresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech to the Confederation of British Industry <\/a>(CBI) this morning (November 21) dashed hopes that she was serious about formulating an industrial strategy that understood the importance of long-term investment in sectors vitally important to the UK economy \u00e2\u20ac\u201d of which oil and gas is an integral part.<\/p>\n

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She has again refused to outline what, specifically, her industrial strategy would entail, saying only that it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot about propping up failing industries or picking winners, but creating the conditions where winners can emerge and grow\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Her U-turn<\/a> on having worker representatives on company boards in her speech this morning was another indication that workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 views would not be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

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Rafferty argued that the message from members in the offshore survey was clear.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnless government starts to come up with some new thinking for the oil and gas industry, the future is looking very bleak,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have made repeated calls for a summit to bring together energy companies, trade unions, the Scottish government and the UK government, so that we can start planning for the future. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never happened, and we just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have repeatedly called on the Scottish government and the UK government to consider using their borrowing powers to take out public stakes in new offshore infrastructure, and to help protect existing infrastructure that might otherwise be decommissioned,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rafferty added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe believe public stakes would encourage companies to also invest, supporting jobs, and creating returns for the public purse in the future.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are in the middle of a crisis, and unless there is action soon we could be approaching a point of no return. That would be devastating for the Scottish economy, particularly in the north east,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOffshore workers are the people worst affected by this crisis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with attacks on their working conditions and as many as 120,000 jobs in the industry and wider economy forecast to be lost by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members are clear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to protect their livelihoods and skills we need government action now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Earlier this month, North East Scotland Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald put down aScottish Parliament motion<\/a> calling on the Scottish Government to facilitate discussions with the UK Government, industry and trade unions to create a plan for co-investment in the offshore industry. The motion has now obtained cross-party support.<\/p>\n

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Commenting on the motion, Macdonald said Scottish Labour has called for the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcreation of a new public body, UK Offshore Investment Limited (UK OIL), to identify areas for temporary public investment.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUK OIL would work with the Oil and Gas Authority to identify strategic assets that are potentially profitable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat would help to prevent platforms and pipelines being lost earlier than planned, and potentially help fund new ones for the future.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe urgently need imaginative thinking like this now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c otherwise the oil and gas sector could continue to decline due to lack of investment.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Scottish Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Westminster spokesman Ian Murray agreed, noting today that strategic assets must be protected by public investment.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce these assets are gone they are gone for good, with all the benefits they bring to Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have to do all we can to stop that happening and then review investment once the oil price rises again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite said that research published last month by the Oil & Gas Authority shows potential for a new lease of life for the industry, with an estimated equivalent of 3bn barrels of oil in untapped small pools around the shores of Scotland.<\/p>\n

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Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s survey also found that 83 per cent of workers had seen a reduction in skilled personnel, which has created issues around productivity and the ability to perform work tasks.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is an incredibly worrying finding,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rafferty argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEnergy companies have to realise that they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t prop up their profits – or create a sustainable industry – by slashing the jobs of the skilled workers who are the bedrock of their success.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEnergy companies need to work with their staff to build for the future. We cannot simply have a race to the bottom.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Find out more about how you can support the oil and gas workforce here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      On the eve of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Autumn Statement on Wednesday (November 23), Unite has revealed the necessity of immediate state intervention following a survey of the offshore workforce which found the vast majority of oil and gas workers foreseeing a bleak future for their industry.   Nearly nine in 10 of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[631,214],"wps_subtitle":"Offshore workers worried about industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dire state","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10649,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10648\/revisions\/10649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}