DivePro - Info

JOHN ROSS (jross@scotsman.com)

MORE than 900 North Sea divers and support staff were set to strike at midnight last night after rejecting the latest pay offer from employers.

The start of the biggest strike the industry has seen for 20 years was confirmed after members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) rejected the deal, worth a 37 per cent rise over three years.

Members voted by 516 votes (68 per cent) to 240 (32 per cent) in a poll that closed at noon yesterday.

The offer, tabled by employers which are signatory to the UK's Offshore Diving Industry Agreement, was recommended by RMT officials to their members. After the vote they said the walkout would continue for as long as it took employers to come back with a better deal.

Bob Crow, the union's general secretary, said: "This result shows just how angry RMT diving personnel have become after 20 years of pay erosion.

"North Sea divers do a particularly difficult job in a hazardous industry, yet over two decades their earnings have slipped by 20 per cent in the average pay tables, while the oil and gas companies have been raking in super-profits.

"Our members have now made it quite clear the offer on the table falls short of their aspirations and they will therefore be on strike from a minute after midnight."

Employers said the deal offered an increase in pay of 25 per cent over the first year followed by a minimum of 5 per cent for each of the second and third years.

A spokesman for the employer signatories said: "This offer was worth 37 per cent overall over the three-year period and is one of the largest pay offers in modern times. We are extremely disappointed by this outcome. We believe that the union members have made a serious error of judgment in refusing what is by any standard a very generous offer."

The result follows the near unanimous rejection of an earlier pay offer in September.

A spokesman for the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association said: "

We sincerely hope that the strike will have no effect on North Sea production, although traditionally of course, the winter period is a quiet time for diving activity because of the seasonal nature of the work, on account of the weather."

The association said employers would have contingency plans to cover the divers' work, and a spokesman added: "

During the winter months they tend not to send divers down for routine maintenance work, you try to get that done during the summer months when the weather and visibility is much better."

However a diver, who asked not to be named, said: "If the work during the strike period is not done, then you will get a backlog of work, which means that future work will be delayed. Work that is meant to be done next week or next month is not going to get done."

The divers, who number around 500, have had a stable relationship with employers for some time. The Offshore Diving Industry Agreement was established in the early 1980s, but employers say they will now have to make individual arrangements with their workers.

Regarding the future of the agreement, the spokesman for the agreement's employer signatories added: "It is difficult to understand how the loss of this agreement is in the best interests of anyone.

"This was one of the main drivers that encouraged the employers group to make such a special effort to resolve this matter but the stark reality is that the union members do not appear to share our views."

THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF WORKING IN AQUASPACE

NORTH Sea divers are regarded as having one of the most dangerous jobs around, on a par with bomb disposal experts. They work at depths of up to 600ft in freezing waters, carrying out inspection, installation and maintenance work on wells and pipelines.

The conditions have been likened to working in space and one mistake could prove fatal.

While the rewards can be lucrative, with a top of the range diver earning up to £46,000 a year, they have to pay for their own training, which can cost £20,000, and they retire at about 50.

One diver with 30 years experience told The Scotsman: "I call it working in aquaspace, it's like working in space but you don't have the visibility. Sometimes you have to do everything by touch and can be up to your waist in mud."

He added that there is no life insurance available nor medical or sickness cover.

"While the earnings may sound good you have to take into consideration what they have to pay out as well," he said.

Source - Scotsman.com