The price of oil OVER the summer the battle for the safety and trade union rights of Britain's North Sea oil workers has taken on a new intensity with a wave of strikes and occupations. The actions taken have followed the pattern of recent unofficial rebellions of rank and file workers in Britain, with the official union structures providing little support. Almost 500 people have died whilst working in the North Sea and a major factor in the development of the current movement has been the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988 which killed 167 workers. A clear victory in the current dispute would be a massive breakthrough for union organization in many sectors previously considered as difficult to unionize. Whilst the militancy of the rank and file remains strong, union leaders have proposed ballots for official strikes to win reinstatement for the hundreds of workers who have been sacked and locked out - ballots which will take weeks to organize and will be subject to legal harassment from the employers. The following article, written in early September, gives an account of the issues at stake.
of Ocean Odyssey, oil workers are more prepared to speak out on the safety issues that affect them. The present fight is taking place despite many companies giving up to 11.7% in pay rises earlier this year. Injuries are still a daily occurrence and in the last ten years 330 offshore workers have been killed.
Terje Johansen, information officer of the Norwegian oil workers union NOPEF, brought solidarity greetings to the regular mass meetings held in Glasgow and Aberdeen. "There is no reason why British oil workers should not enjoy the same safety and conditions offshore as we have in the Norwegian sector" This was followed by a resolution of support from an international oil workers conference attended by trade unionists from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Holland, as well as Britain, held in Stavanger. The oil workers of Trinidad and Tobago have also sent messages of support as has the North East executive of the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers).
The national officials of the 7 unions representing offshore workers have been more timid in their support, some grudging the use of local offices. The EETPU (the electricians' trade union), for example, has broken ranks already by arranging a separate deal with a contractor behind the backs of even the other officials.
Discussion about forming new union If this continues it is bound to revive the discussion about the setting up of a new industrial union for offshore workers. However union branches, shop stewards' committees in shipyards and so on have responded generously. Glasgow ambulance workers contributed £1,000. Those sections of the labour movement that believe a well organized offshore workforce is important are being approached for financial support and resolutions to their leaderships are also important.
The OILC has been created by oilworkers frustrated by twenty years of neglect by the official trade union movement and previous Labour governments. Some of those on strike had torn up their union cards years ago in disgust.
Already the Gulf situation and the resulting rise in oil prices has been used as an argument in court by a legal representative for Shell — the 'national interest' and the 'balance of payments' were posed as arguments against the workers occupations to defend their jobs against lockouts and sackings. But it was the greed of the multinational oil companies, allied to the desire of western governments to control oil supplies, that led them to invest in the politically stable but environmentally hostile North Sea.
While the OILC waited for the period of summer maintenance work before
NORMAN LOCKHART
VER 700 oil workers from as far afield as Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle marched with their families and supporters through Aberdeen on Saturday September 1.
This protest against the sacking of over a thousand offshore workers for taking 24 hour strike action in support of a single UK Continental Shelf Agreement [which would offer all workers the security of trade union protection, and regularly negotiated wages and conditions] marks the build up of a campaign onshore and preparation for further strikes and occupations on the platforms. Thousands of "bears" (construction workers) have been cleared from their installations and "beached". But already women's support groups have been organized along with the relatives of those killed offshore.
The high point of the dispute so far has been the historic sit in on installations around the East Shetland Basin. Some women and men spent up to five and a half weeks offshore. Shell often interfered or cut off phone calls to families as well as to the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC — the offshore workers' organization behind the industrial action). This was the most blatant form of intimidation and harassment and entirely within the tradition of management offshore. 26 over five weeks offshore, commented in Jane Hall (21), a stewardess who spent an interview with Blow Out, the voice of offshore workers, "this tactic hurts Shell.... you can do a lot by sitting in even if it does not feel like it at the time. Now we are ashore we realise that although it did not feel much we were effective". . Her mother Pat pinpointed the issue that has been central to this struggle since the OIL was established last year. "You're bound to worry, it's your family. But it is about safety for everyone and they should have a union to speak for them while they are out there".
Ronnie Macdonald, chair of OILC, pointed out that the sit-ins have made it "inconceivable that this industry will ever be managed again without genuine input from those employed in it".
### Changes in personal relations
Besides new found confidence, the sit ins have transformed the way offshore workers think of each other. Wilma Masson (23) said that the "bears" had admired the women for sticking it out with them - outlasting many. But it was also their status as catering staff that was more respected. One scaffolder had been heard to remark during occupation cleaning duties, "I never knew cleaning floors was such hard work"
The cuts in wages, jobs and conditions imposed during the 1986 price slump have still not been restored. But since the Piper Alpha disaster and the destruction
International Viewpoint #193 • October 29, 1990