{"id":4112,"date":"2015-05-08T15:54:11","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T14:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4112"},"modified":"2015-05-08T15:54:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T14:54:11","slug":"stop-race-to-bottom-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4112","title":{"rendered":"Stop race to bottom call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>The recovering price of oil should bring an immediate end to the oil and gas industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opportunistic campaign of job cuts and impositions to working conditions, Unite has said yesterday (May 7).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The call comes after talks with Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) employers convened yesterday in the wake of a consultative ballot which showed over 93 per cent support for industrial action among Unite members in the OCA.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over 10,000 offshore jobs have been shed since prices slumped to $50 USD a barrel at the turn of the year. The industry moved quickly to impose a regressive three weeks on, three weeks off shift pattern (three and three) and cuts to pay and holiday entitlement without consultation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, with the price of brent crude trading around $68 USD per barrel this week and forecast to hit $70 USD, Unite believes the time for the industry to step-back and negotiate with its workers over the future of the North Sea is now.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe recovering oil price should put an immediate stop to the decimation of crucial jobs and the imposition of regressive working practices across the North Sea,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members have been very clear that the industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions will not only compromise the sustainability of jobs and skills for the next generation of oil recovery, it could also have catastrophic consequences for offshore safety too.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOCA employers have taken this first step but the industry majors must also stop exerting commercial pressure on its contractors, allowing some breathing space to negotiate a sustainable future between workers and employers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we cannot accept however is the industry continuing to run roughshod over its workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 livelihoods, pay and working arrangements \u00e2\u20ac\u201c particularly the three and three imposition on shift patterns.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis race to the bottom must stop and we will know in the coming weeks when the OCA talks reconvene if the industry is serious about ending its campaign of aggression.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recovering price of oil should bring an immediate end to the oil and gas industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opportunistic campaign of job cuts and impositions to working conditions, Unite has said yesterday (May 7). &nbsp; &nbsp; The call comes after talks with Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) employers convened yesterday in the wake of a consultative ballot which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[213],"wps_subtitle":"Oil price should halt North Sea industry cuts ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112"}],"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=4112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4113,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4112\/revisions\/4113"}],"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=4112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}