Nearly 50 offshore workers on BP North Sea assets are set to down tools in a dispute over pay and overtime rates.
Sparrows members of the Unite union working on BP’s Andrew, Clair, Clair Ridge, ETAP, Glen Lyon FPSO and Mungo installations overwhelmingly supported strikes that will result in a series of 24- and 48-hour stoppages.
The workers are asking for an 18% increase in pay for 2022, or an enhanced payment that provides for a longer break than the period previously worked offshore, with no reduction in earnings, and also for all overtime to be paid at time and a half.
The union warned that the industrial action could thereafter escalate to all-out strike action and a complete overtime ban, adding that the GMB and RMT trade unions are also balloting their members within Sparrows on BP installations.
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Unite’s Sparrows members on these installations are ready to fight for a decent deal until they get one. The oil and gas industry is awash with record profits. In 2022 BP’s profits were £23bn – more than double those for 2021. Corporate greed is at its peak in the offshore sector because the workforce is seeing none of these astronomical profits coming into their pay packets or through improved terms and conditions.”
