Workers surveyed want fair pay and protections across the industry, and they don’t think we can model offshore wind with the oil industry’s broken image.
This study shows that:
- Whistleblowing protections do not apply to self-employed workers, who make up a large proportion of the growing casual workforce, leaving many workers vulnerable to blacklisting and victimization for speaking out.
- Training standards body GWO (wind energy) has so far been unable to reach an agreement with OPITO (oil and gas) and others on standardization of training in the offshore sector, meaning duplication of effort and additional costs for workers.
The current energy system results in:
- Globally, just five oil and gas companies will make nearly $200 billion in profits in 2022.
- Low taxes mean UK companies generate the highest share of revenue of any country – the UK government took less than a tenth of the tax revenue per barrel of oil in 2019 that Norway’s.
- Despite their high profits, 73% of oil and gas companies in the UK have not made any investment in renewable energy production.
The demands were backed by more than 1,000 surveyed offshore oil and gas workers, as well as major unions and organizations working in the energy and climate sectors, including RMT, Unite Scotland, Unison Scotland and Uplift, among others.
extraction
These requirements are comprehensive in scope, transformative in scale, and deliverable now. Offshore workers in RMT, Unite and GMB are currently seeking strike action over existing pay and conditions, with over 10% of the workforce voting in Unite alone.
A just, worker-led transition will reinvest money in communities through sovereign wealth funds and equitably share the benefits of our energy system. The UK is losing revenue that would have supported households and public services while private, polluting businesses profited.
Activists say neither the Conservative government nor the Labor opposition have come up with concrete plans for a truly just transition for workers and the worst-affected communities.
Meanwhile, the British government has recently started issuing permits to explore for more oil and gas.
The windfall tax, which actively incentivizes extraction and undermines climate commitments, enables polluting companies to “offset” as much as 91% of the increased tax liability of oil and gas extraction.
hinder
At the same time, we have not seen the progress we need from Labour’s just transition task force. The party’s flagship, Great British Energy, while off to a promising start, has failed to deliver the sweeping changes needed across the energy system.
The platform and Friends of the Earth Scotland are calling on the UK and Scottish governments to back the demand for full costing.
Platform’s transition campaigner Gabrielle Jeliazkov said: “The future of the UK energy system should be in the hands of workers and communities.
“Industry profiteering and government inaction have sent our bills skyrocketing, working conditions deteriorating and our energy transition unplanned. Amid the climate and cost of living crises, offshore oil and gas workers have found a way forward.
“Politicians must meet these demands. We cannot trust obstructive industry bosses who work in their own interests to develop solutions that protect workers, communities and the climate.”
manufacturing
Mary Church, head of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “Our current energy system is destroying our climate, unaffordable to millions, and failing the people who work in it. Climate science is crystal clear and we must analyze it quickly. Stages Fossil fuels should be phased out if we want a livable future.
“Politicians’ failure to properly plan and support the transition to renewable energy is leaving workers adrift entirely at the whim of the oil and gas companies and the planet is burning. The Scottish/UK government must accept these demands and make them their source of energy a just transition plan developed by the department.”
RMT’s regional organizer Jake Molloy said: “If we are going to have a truly just transition, staff must be fully engaged, engaged and empowered in the process. Politicians must be aware of the fact that we need a new model.
“The current lack of a real transition plan from politicians and industry is disappointing the existing workforce, fueling dissatisfaction and disillusionment, evident in the growing number of disputes and industrial action. These demands are the start of an energy plan that will deliver Affordable and secure employment through the entire energy sector, ensuring energy security.
“We need an industry that protects settled and migrant workers, who must be paid like British workers and not exploited for greater profits. We need a manufacturing base to support new development and decommissioning. The voice of the workforce must be heard .”
the author
Brendan Montague is ecologist. This article is based on a press release from the platform and Friends of the Earth Scotland. The names of Mark and Julie were used to protect the identities of the workers cited.
