Workforce Report 2018

5.1 Industrial Relations At the time of writing, strike action is taking place on three platforms (one employer) and the members of Unite and GMB unions have rejected a pay offer from the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA), announcing their intention to hold a ballot for industrial action.

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In 2017, members in two employer associations – the OCA and the Catering Offshore Trade Association (COTA) – were faced with the threat of industrial action for the second time in two years.

Job cuts, pay freezes and even wage reductions, resulting from the downturn in the industry, have contributed to a complex industrial relations landscape, in which the OCA, COTA and unions are trying to negotiate and implement an agreement to be applied across the UKCS with a wide range of rota patterns and variety of different terms and conditions. Consensus to overhaul the Offshore Contractors’ Partnership Agreement (between the OCA, Unite and GMB) had been reached as part of the 2015-16 negotiations (concluded in January 2017) to preserve collective arrangements that were in danger of collapsing. The intent was that the revised agreement would take account of current employment practices and the commercial realities facing the industry. The OCA and its partner unions carried out a full review of the Partnership Agreement in the latter half of 2017. The RMT union, though not an official signatory to the Agreement, was also involved in this review. The tone and progress of these discussions appeared to herald a return to more stable industrial relations for the foreseeable future, but the more recent problems highlighted above show that there remains much to be done in terms of workforce engagement particularly, but not exclusively, offshore.

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