{"id":3388,"date":"2015-03-19T12:24:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T12:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3388"},"modified":"2015-03-19T12:24:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T12:24:11","slug":"stop-attacking-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3388","title":{"rendered":"Stop attacking workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Among the few winners in yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget was the North Sea oil industry, which was handed over a \u00c2\u01411.3bn tax cut to combat a slump in oil prices.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe industry responded to the initial New Year slump, which saw the global price of crude plummet to below $50 a barrel, by attacking workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay and conditions, following a strategic failure to plan for the drop in prices.<\/p>\n

 
\nNow, the new tax cut might spell hope for the 375,000 oil workers employed by the industry in the North Sea\u00e2\u20ac\u201dif that is, opportunistic firms end their race to the bottom.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty argued that the tax cut must signal an end to the industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short-sighted race for immediate profits at the cost of long-term, sustainable investment in drilling, exploration and their most important resource\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe workforce.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGeorge Osborne has delivered an eye-watering \u00c2\u01411.3bn, no strings tax cut for an industry already worth billions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are clear that economic reform of the North Sea must go hand-in-hand with sustaining jobs and strengthening employment and workplace health safety rights.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we cannot contemplate is a de-regulated future for the North Sea \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a race to the bottom on jobs and standards where workers will have to work longer for less.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nIndeed, as the Guardian reported yesterday<\/a>, rig workers across the industry have already been asked to work more hours for the same rate of pay. One group of workers the Guardian spoke to said that they were told that from September, they would have to work an extra week\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthree weeks on the rig and two weeks off\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfor the same pay, replacing the current two weeks on and two weeks off arrangement.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhile an RMT regional organiser told the Guardian he fears the tax cut would only mean a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbundle of cash in big oil shareholders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pockets,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rafferty argued Osborne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s giveaway provides an opportunity to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bchallenge\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the industry.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur challenge to the industry is this: You have got what you asked for so stop attacking your workers livelihoods and working conditions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith their morale at rock-bottom, the workforce needs this confirmed immediately.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nA consultative ballot of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s membership in the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) is currently taking place and will run until Friday, March 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among the few winners in yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget was the North Sea oil industry, which was handed over a \u00c2\u01411.3bn tax cut to combat a slump in oil prices.   The industry responded to the initial New Year slump, which saw the global price of crude plummet to below $50 a barrel, by attacking workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[177,213],"wps_subtitle":"Unite says no to a deregulated North Sea ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388"}],"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=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3389,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions\/3389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}