The trade union Unite has announced that its 25,000 members covered by the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) have accepted a revised pay offer, following recommendations by the union and its OCA shop stewards.
The OCA represents contractor organisations involved in a range of activities in the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry.
Negotiations with the OCA began in January 2018 after several previous offers had been rejected. The revised offer was made in December 2018, consisting of a proposed pay increase in the D1 hourly rate based on a category B craftsperson of 4.8% for 2019 and 4% for 2020. Unite announced its members’ acceptance of the offer on 8 January 2019.
John Boland, Unite regional industrial officer, said: “After a long process, Unite members have accepted the revised pay offer by the OCA. The two-year pay deal represents a significant improvement on the initial OCA offer, which has been recognised by our offshore members who perform difficult and arduous jobs.
“We are pleased that following this democratic decision by our membership that we can put this period of uncertainty behind us.”
Paul Atkinson, chief executive at the OCA, said: “We are very pleased that members of Unite and the RMT have voted to accept our offer. It follows a period in which the OCA has worked extremely hard with our members, their operator clients, trade union colleagues and workforce representatives to develop a proposal that will bring pay certainty through until the end of 2020.”