{"id":7524,"date":"2016-01-29T14:01:16","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T14:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7524"},"modified":"2016-01-29T14:01:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T14:01:16","slug":"clarity-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7524","title":{"rendered":"Clarity call"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Unite is calling on the Prime Minister to clarify the UK government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term plan for the oil and gas sector amid rising workforce fears of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098race to the bottom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 across the UK Continental Shelf.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Prime Minister said he would set out \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba bridge to the future\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for the sustainability of employment in the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest industrial sector. As of 2014, the industry was estimated to support around 375,000 jobs across the economy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But as he announced a new \u00e2\u20ac\u0098city deal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland economy , offshore workers demanded more details about\u00c2\u00a0 how the UK government will stop the year-long campaign of cuts to jobs, terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over 65,000 jobs and rising have been lost since January 2015 and turbulent market conditions continue with the price of oil at just over $32 a barrel.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Severe situation <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are pleased that our political leaders are recognising the severity of the situation and investing in the north east economy which has been hammered by the oil price slump,” said Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also heard calls from the Scottish Government for further tax breaks for the offshore industry. But workers now need clarity from the Prime Minster about how he intends to safeguard employment, skills and also occupational safety across the UK Continental Shelf.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Job cuts<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe response of many companies to the crisis has been one of maximum efficiency at the lowest cost possible – imposing heavy cuts to jobs, terms and conditions in the process – but this \u00e2\u20ac\u0098race to the bottom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cannot continue indefinitely,” he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe workforce must be the biggest beneficiaries of all future investments and tax breaks.\u00c2\u00a0 This can be achieved by demonstrating that money is directly allocated to employment and improving safety standards instead of beefing-up profit margins.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Need sector <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK needs the oil and gas sector to contribute to energy supply security and economic growth but this cannot be achieved with an increasingly casualised workforce and an occupational safety regime relegated to a second-tier priority,” said\u00c2\u00a0 Rafferty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The City Deal agreement was formally signed by Scottish Secretary David Mundell and the Scottish government’s infrastructure secretary, Keith Brown, in a ceremony in Aberdeen. It\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0includes funding for an energy innovation centre and the expansion of Aberdeen harbour to help the city compete for oil and gas industry decommissioning work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The deal also includes proposals to help exploit the remaining North Sea oil reserves.\u00c2\u00a0Oil and gas are expected to continue to provide around 70% of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s total primary energy from now until 2035.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0Unite is calling on the Prime Minister to clarify the UK government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term plan for the oil and gas sector amid rising workforce fears of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098race to the bottom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 across the UK Continental Shelf.   The Prime Minister said he would set out \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba bridge to the future\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for the sustainability of employment in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[122,213],"wps_subtitle":"Cameron must explain plans for oil and gas","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7529,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7524\/revisions\/7529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}